


In Perfect Harmony

by juliathephantom (knitsessed)



Series: In Perfect Harmony Soulmate AU [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Mercer Has Anxiety (Julie and the Phantoms), Alive Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Alive Willie, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Even though most of them are adults, F/M, Julie has the patience of a saint, Living!Phantoms, Luke is a loveable idiot, M/M, No Beta, Ray Adopts Everyone, Rose is the only one that's dead, Soul Bond, Sunset Curve (Julie and The Phantoms), Sunset Curve is already famous, juke, waking up in each other's beds, we die like sunset curve, willex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:02:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 35
Words: 51,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28457982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knitsessed/pseuds/juliathephantom
Summary: Soulmate AU where the older partner wakes up in the younger one's bed on their sixteenth birthday.Luke, frontman of famous band Sunset Curve, wakes up in Julie Molina's bed. Music, love, and chaos ensue.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn/Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Nick/Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: In Perfect Harmony Soulmate AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2102190
Comments: 224
Kudos: 294





	1. First Meeting

Luke had basically given up at this point. He was twenty-three now, and every day that passed meant that the age gap between him and his soulmate increased. He was already going to be at least seven years older than her, whoever she was. When he finally woke up in her bed, would she think he was too old for her? Nonetheless, he dutifully made sure that he wore pajama pants to bed every night. He’d long abandoned the shoes and shirt. It was too uncomfortable to sleep in shoes every night and it’d been seven years, so why would that night be any different? But it was.  


He wakes up with his arm wrapped around the slight form of a girl. He knows he’d gone to bed alone. Even though he didn’t think he’d ever meet his soulmate, he felt like he’d be cheating on her if he slept with anyone else. Opening his eyes, he’s met with a light and airy room. Definitely not his bedroom in the house he shared with the guys. He turns his attention to the girl in his arms. His soulmate. She has wild brown hair and a smile on her lips. He grins. She’s beautiful.  


Luke lifts his head when the bedroom door creaks open. A man, presumably his soulmate’s father, is standing in the doorway, clearly checking to see if anyone had arrived. Luke could tell the moment the man recognizes him and is disheartened to see that he doesn’t look pleased. Luke uses his free hand to signal to the man to be quiet because the girl was still asleep.  


“Tell Julie that I’ll be in the kitchen and that her dad-” The man points to himself. “Wants to talk to her when she wakes up,” the man whispers. Luke gave him a thumbs-up. Julie. That was his soulmate’s name. It suited her.  


Julie’s dad reaches for the door to shut it then reconsiders. He walks away leaving the door wide open. Luke was used to not being good with parents. He’d hoped that Julie’s parents would like him, though. He wasn’t going to give her up, parents be damned.  


A few minutes later, Julie stirs. She stretches, before snuggling back into his chest. Luke smiles. She’s adorable. Like a little kitten.  


“Hi, Julie.” Her eyes are still sleepy but widen with surprise that he knows her name. “Your dad poked his head in. He wants to talk to you.”  


Julie groans, putting her head back down. “I don’t wanna. I just want to stay here.” She lays there for a minute, then speaks again. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”  


“No, we’ve never met. My name is Luke Patterson.”  


Her head jerks up. “Like, from Sunset Curve?”  


Luke nods. “Yeah, that’s me.”  


“Whoa.” This information seems to finally motivate her to move. She grabs her phone off the bedside table. “I need to call Carrie. She’s never going to believe me.”  


“Who’s Carrie?”  


“One of my best friends. She kept joking about how my soulmate was probably going to be someone who hated music or only liked country or something.”  


“Oh. Well, I have an idea.” He pulls Julie’s phone from her hands, tugs her back to rest her head on his chest, and took a quick selfie of them. He checks the picture to make sure it looks okay, then shows it to Julie. “Send this to Carrie.”  


“And Flynn. She’d kill me if I only sent it to Carrie.”  


“Flynn?”  


“My other best friend. She and Carrie have a love-hate relationship, by which I mean they act like they hate each other but I’m pretty sure they’re in love with each other.” Just as Julie hits send, a boy comes into her room.  


“Carlos, what have I told you about my room?”  


“To stay out, but Julie, come on! I gotta meet your soulmate!”  


Julie sighs. “Fine. Carlos, this is my soulmate, Luke. Luke, this is my little brother, Carlos.”  


“Nice to meet you, little man.” Carlos frowns.  


“Are you... Luke Patterson? From Sunset Curve?”  


“Yeah. You a fan?”  


“Julie’s a fan. Like your biggest fan ever.” Julie blushes.  


“Carlos, get out!” Carlos bounces out of the room, grinning.  


“So, you’re a fan?” Luke is thrilled at the notion. His soulmate likes his music. She’s beautiful and adorable and sweet and she’s his. What more could he want?  


“Let’s go talk to my dad.” She ignores the question, getting up and then tugging on his hand until he does, too.  


“Do you, uh, have a shirt I can borrow?” Luke asks, slightly uncomfortable with the idea of sitting through her father’s interrogation shirtless.  


“Yeah, I think one of Nick’s should fit you.” Luke tenses at the unfamiliar name. Is Nick her boyfriend? He hadn’t thought about that. What if she’s dating someone? Julie doesn’t seem to notice as she pulls a bin out from the depths of her closet. She digs through it finally surfacing with a t-shirt. “This good?”  
He tries it on. It fits well enough. It’s a little snug, but it’ll do. “It’ll work. Whose shirt is this?” He’s trying to be casual about it but he’s not sure how well he’s pulling that off.  


“Nick’s. He, Carrie, Flynn, and I have been friends for forever. After a few years of sleepovers where someone forgot something, we all made bins for all of our houses with some essentials. Spare socks, extra shirts for if someone spills, toothbrushes...” She finally seems to notice that he’s jealous. “Oh, Luke. Nick’s gay.”  


Luke relaxes. “So you aren’t dating him?”  


“Well, sometimes if we’re out and about, the girls and I take turns pretending to be his girlfriend. But that’s just because it makes him so uncomfortable and it’s hilarious. Also if someone’s being a jerk about how he could never get a girl, which he doesn’t want to do anyway, we’ll all act like we’re all crazy in love with him to get them to back off. But I have no interest in him beyond friendship and you don’t need to be jealous of him. We are absolutely not into each other.”  


“Would I be a jerk if I asked you not to do that anymore?”  


“What, pretend to be his girlfriend?”  


“Yeah.”  


“I wouldn’t dream of pretending to be with someone else now that I’m with you.” She pauses. “While we’re talking about this, though. Is your bassist single?”  


“What?” The jealousy flares back up.  


“Nick’s got an insane crush on Reggie Peters. I wanna set up a blind date between them. Nick’s reaction would be priceless. He’d owe me for life. Will you ask Reggie?”  


Luke grins. “As a matter of fact, Reggie is single. What does this Nick guy look like?”  


Julie grabs a framed photo off of her dresser. “He’s the blond guy.”  


“Oh, Reggie’s super into blonds. Nick’s exactly his type. Let’s do it. But you’ll have to ask Reggie. He’ll be more likely to say yes. He’ll think I’m setting him up with some loser as a prank.” He hesitates. “Anyway, as much as I don’t want to, I think we should go talk to your dad.”  


“Oh, right. We were supposed to do that.”  


“He said he’d be in the kitchen. I don’t know where that is, so lead the way.” Julie takes his hand and they head downstairs. Julie’s dad is standing at the counter, a mug of coffee in his hand. He frowns when he sees them.  


“Morning, Papí,” Julie says. “This is Luke.”  


“I know. I recognize him from the album covers. How old are you, Luke?”  


“I’m twenty-three, sir.”  


“Julie’s sixteen. You think that it’s okay to share her bed?”  


“Well, she is my soulmate, sir. It’s not like we really have any choice. But sir, I swear, I won’t do anything she doesn’t want. We have to share a bed but if she doesn’t want me to, I won’t touch her. We can sleep on opposite sides. I won’t push her. Julie is precious. I don’t want to hurt her.”  


Julie’s father finally smiles. “You better not. Nice to meet you, then, Luke. I guess I’ll be seeing a lot of you.”  


“Yes, sir. I- Julie and I haven’t talked about it yet, but do you want me to move in here or should she come live with me?”  


Julie turns to look at Luke, surprised. “You’d move in here?”  


“I’d do anything for you.”  


“Papí, what do you think?”  


“You’re my little girl, Julie. I’d prefer it if he’d move in here, at least while you’re still in school. We’re gonna have to figure something out for when he goes on tour. We can’t have you guys just popping into each other’s beds when he’s in Sweden or wherever.”  


“The band just got back from a tour, sir. We’re working on a new album right now and probably won’t be touring for at least a year, so we have time to work this out.”  


“Enough with the ‘sirs,’ son. My name is Ray.” Luke grins. Maybe he isn’t so bad with parents.  


It’s at that moment that Flynn, Nick, and Carrie come in. “Julie Molina, is your soulmate seriously Luke Patterson?” Carrie screeches.  


“Yes, hi. I’m pretty sure I’m me.” Luke waves. “Who are you?”  


“The harpy is Carrie and the person staring at you like you’re a ghost is Flynn,” Julie informs him. “And that’s Nick.”  


“Harpy!” Carrie rolls her eyes. “I’m just shocked. He’s a rockstar, Jules.”  


“I know.”  


“Is that my shirt?” Nick asks.  


“Yeah, sorry about that. I, uh, I didn’t have a shirt on when I fell asleep last night so...” Luke feels kind of bad about taking the kid’s shirt. He can’t tell what Nick thinks about all this.  


“A rockstar is wearing my shirt!” Oh, he’s not mad.  


Luke notices the time on the microwave. “Shit, I’m missing practice.” The guys must be freaking out.  


“You just met your soulmate, Luke, I’m sure your band will forgive you.” Ray points out.  


“No, they won’t be mad, they’ll be worried. I’ve literally never missed a practice. Alex must be having a panic attack by now.”  


“Do you want to borrow my phone?” Julie offers.  


“I don’t have their numbers memorized. I just use the contacts on my phone. Can someone drive me to the studio?” Ray nods, pleased that Luke is trying to be responsible.  


“Yeah. You can borrow Rose’s car. Mija, are you going, too?”  


“Can I?” She asks Luke.  


“Of course, babe. The guys would love to meet you.”  


“Okay, can I get dressed first, though?”  


“Sure.”  


Julie runs upstairs, tugs on a pair of jeans and one of her Sunset Curve tees, and slides on some sandals. She’s back downstairs less than five minutes later.  


“Let’s go!”  


“Love the shirt, babe,” Luke smirks at her.  


“Shut up.”  


As Luke and Julie climb into her mother’s car, Carrie and Flynn demand a phone call later. Julie makes no promises, but they all know she’ll call and gush later. Luke loads up the studio’s address on Julie’s phone’s GPS and they’re off.


	2. Bright

Julie could feel the nerves coming on. She was about to meet her favorite band, as their lead singer’s soulmate. What do you say in that situation?  
“Relax, babe, they’re going to love you.” Luke tries to reassure her as they head into the building. Luke leads her up to the studio where they encounter Alex pacing.  
“Alex, he’s probably fine. He must have just overslept. Do you wanna call Willie while we wait?” Reggie is saying as they walk in.  
“Sorry I’m late, guys.” Alex rushes over and hugs him.  
“I told you he’d be here!” Reggie tells Alex.  
Alex isn’t focusing on that anymore, though. “Who’s she?” He asks.  
“This is Julie. She’s my soulmate. Julie, this is Alex and Reggie, the other members of Sunset Curve.”  
“I think she knows who we are.” Reggie gestures to the t-shirt.  
“Yeah, uh, hi, Reggie, Alex,” Julie says, blushing.  
“Nice to meet you, Julie. Happy birthday!” Alex says.  
“Can we throw you a party?” Reggie can always be counted on to make people feel welcome.  
“Um, I think my dad’s already doing that. But you’re welcome to come.”  
“We’ll be there! Are you staying for practice?” Alex asks.  
“Yeah, uh, I think so.”  
“She’s staying,” Luke declares. “Is there anything you want to hear first?”  
“Now or Never,” Julie says instantly. “That’s my favorite.”  
Luke picks up his guitar as Alex moves behind his drums. Reggie swings the strap of his bass over his shoulder and Alex counts them in. The music starts and Julie is lost. They’re all incredibly talented, but Luke is... She has no words. As they move into the chorus, Julie starts to sing along, not noticing that they’ve stopped playing to stare at her until Alex speaks.  
“Holy shit. Luke, your soulmate is a better singer than you are!” Julie bites her lip.  
“Sorry! I just- I got caught up in the music. I’ll be quiet!”  
“No, Julie, don’t be sorry! You’re incredible. All in favor of Julie joining the band?” Luke asks. Reggie and Alex shout their enthusiastic consent. “Babe, what do you say? Will you join the band?”  
“I- are you serious?”  
“Your voice is incredible. Babe, we’re famous now, but we’ll become legends with you. Come on, sing a song with me, see if you like it.”  
“Oh, um, what song?”  
“I’ve got one I’ve been working on that I’d like to try with you. We’ve been trying to figure out who to do it with because it needs a female vocalist. If I give you some sheet music, do you think you can just go for it?”  
“Yeah, I think so.” Luke pulls out the music for Bright. Julie looks at it then frowns. “It starts with a keyboard. None of you play the keyboard, do you?”  
“Reggie does, a little,” Alex says.  
Julie walks over to the keyboard. She sets the sheet music down on the stand in front of the keyboard and starts playing. She starts tapping out the first few notes then stops, looking up at Luke.  
“You got this!” Luke whisper-shouts.  
Julie starts playing again. “Sometimes I think I’m falling down...”  
The band had practiced Bright with Alex singing what should have been Luke’s part and Luke singing what was now Julie’s, so when the moment came for the other instruments to come in, they were perfectly on cue. When Luke’s voice joined Julie’s in the chorus the second time it appeared, the guys knew that Luke’s soulmate was the missing piece to their, admittedly extremely successful, band. The chemistry between the soulmates was almost tangible and when their voices meshed, it was magical.  
The last notes died out and the guys whoop in excitement. “Julie, that was incredible, babe!” Luke declares. “Will you please join the band?”  
“You’re sure? You’re all sure?”  
“Julie, your voice is... it’s perfect. And you and Luke sing together so well, it’s like you’ve been doing it forever. If you want to join the band, we’d love to have you.” Reggie’s uncharacteristic seriousness is not quite enough to convince her. “Plus, if you join the band, then we won’t have to pick between keyboard and bass in every song. I can’t play both at once, but you could take over the keyboard for me.”  
“But what if your fans don’t like me? I could ruin everything you’ve worked for!”  
“Babe, if our fans don’t like you, they’re crazy. And remember what your dad said about figuring out what to do when I go on tour? If you join the band, then you’ll be on tour with me, so we won’t have to worry about you popping into my bed in Sweden.”  
“I’m only sixteen, though. Don’t you want someone more experienced? I’ve never been part of a band or anything.”  
“Julie, if you’re this good with no experience, then we can’t wait to see how amazing you are with some practice.” Alex really wants Julie to join the band mostly because she’s incredibly talented, but also because it clearly means the world to Luke. Luke is like Alex’s brother, and he would do anything to make him happy. “Face it, we want you to join the band. We won’t make you, but you’ll always have a place with Sunset Curve.”  
“Can I think about it?”  
“Of course, babe. Just let me know when you decide.” Luke pauses, taking Julie’s hand. “Jules, I want you to know that whatever you decide, I won’t be mad. If you don’t want to join us, you don’t have to. I’d love to wake up every morning with you and then spend the day playing music together and singing sold-out shows every night on stage with you, but if that’s not what you want, then we’ll come up with a different plan. I’ll support you with whatever direction you decide to take your life.”  
“Except for the waking up together thing. You kinda don’t have a choice there,” Reggie helpfully interjects, lightening the mood.  
“I’ll think about it. I’m gonna go call the girls, so if I’m not back when you’re done rehearsing, then shoot me a text.”  
“I don’t actually have your number,” Luke points out. The guys start laughing.  
“You don’t have your soulmate’s phone number? Wow, Luke. What have you been doing?” Alex pokes Luke in the shoulder.  
“I just met her this morning! Cut me some slack, guys!”  
Julie scribbles her phone number on a post-it, which she sticks onto Luke’s forehead. “There. Now you have my number. Text me when you’re done if I’m not back.”  
Luke quickly pulls the post-it off of his face, immediately entering the digits into his phone. When he looks up, Julie is gone. He pouts. “I didn’t get to say goodbye.”  
“Wow... You’re whipped already. Am I this pathetic with Willie?”  
“Yes.” Reggie says. Alex throws a drumstick at him.

In the hallway, Julie finds a bench and sits down. She starts a video call with Flynn, who she knows will be with Carrie and takes a few deep breaths while waiting for Flynn to pick up.  
“Oh my god, Julie! What’s the band like? Is Luke as good of a boyfriend as we’ve always thought he’d be? Did they play for you?”  
“Luke’s not my boyfriend, Flynn. We’re just...”  
“You’re soulmates, Julie. He may not be your boyfriend yet but it’s just a matter of time.” Carrie argues. “So, what’s it like being Luke Patterson’s soulmate?”  
“He’s really sweet, guys. They all are. They, uh, they want me to join the band.”  
“Holy shit, Jules! You’re joining Sunset Curve?” Flynn screeches.  
“Well, maybe. They were playing Now or Never and I started singing along. I didn’t even realize I was doing it and then they stopped playing and Alex said that I have a better voice than Luke-”  
“He said that?” Carrie shrieks.  
“Yeah, they’re all really good at making sure that people own their talent. Anyway, then Luke asked the others if they’d be okay if I joined the band. Then Luke pulled out a new song and had me sing it with them and then they spent like the next ten minutes trying to convince me to join.”  
“Oooh is the new song any good?”  
“It’s called Bright, and yes, it’s great. But what do I do?”  
“You go back in there and tell your rockstar soulmate that you’ll join the band,” Flynn’s voice screams that this should be obvious.  
“Seriously, Julie. What kind of question is that? Of course, you should join the band!” Carrie snaps. “This is your big break! Take it!”  
“But what if they’re only letting me join them because I’m Luke’s soulmate? What if they don’t actually want me? What if I’m not good enough? What if they regret it?”  
“Julie. Deep breaths. You’re crazy talented, girl. They aren’t just asking you because you’re Luke’s soulmate. That’s how they found you, but that’s not why they want you. They won’t regret making you part of the band because you’ll make them legends. Like, Hall of Fame legends. Sunset Curve is a great band, but you’ll take them into the history books.” Flynn seems so confident but Julie is still unsure.  
“And besides, Jules, what would you do when you became famous on your own and you and Luke had different tour schedules? You’d be popping into each other’s beds and having to get back to another country in time for that night’s show. This is the best way for you to get to perform.” Carrie’s logic does make sense, Julie has to admit. And the thing Luke said about waking up together then spending the rest of their days making music did sound really nice.  
“You say that like it’s a guarantee that I’ll become famous.”  
“With your voice, it practically is. Plus, your songs are amazing. Even if you didn’t perform, maybe you could write some songs for the band?”  
“You write music?” Luke says from behind her.  
“Oh, hi, Luke. Julie, tell Luke that you’re joining the band.” Carrie says through the phone.  
“Carrie!” Julie snaps.  
“You’re gonna join us?” Luke looks so hopeful, it breaks Julie’s heart to think about crushing that spark.  
“I gotta talk to my dad, but yes. I think so.” Luke’s smile is the brightest Julie’s ever seen it. He wraps Julie up in a big hug.  
“I’m gonna hang up now, Jules,” Flynn says through the phone that Julie had abandoned on the bench.  
“Come on, let’s go tell the guys!” Luke says, tugging on Julie’s hand. They reenter the studio where the guys are waiting.  
“Julie’s gonna join the band!” The guys cheer. “And she writes music!”  
“Play something for us, Julie!” Alex demands.  
“Something you wrote,” Reggie clarifies unnecessarily.  
“Okay, um, how about the song I wrote for Flynn?”  
“Flynn?” Reggie asks.  
“One of my best friends. We got into a huge fight and I wrote it to try and make her see how important she is to me.”  
“Go for it!” Luke cheers.  
Julie goes over to the keyboard again and presses a few buttons. Then she starts playing, her voice coming in last. “If I leave you on a bad note, leave you on a sad note, guess that means I’m buying lunch that day. I know all your secrets, you know all my deep dish, guess that means some things, they never, they never change. We both know what I, what I mean. When I look at you it’s like I’m looking at me!” Julie stops.  
“Wow,” Alex says, mind blown.  
“Do you have more?” Reggie asks.  
“Yeah, it’s a whole song. But I need backup singers and drums and guitar and bass...”  
“You’ve got all that here,” Reggie points out.  
“I’ll play the rest later. I- today’s been a lot.” Julie looks at her phone. “And it’s only like three.”  
“Julie, I’m begging you. Please let me write songs with you. Please! You’re amazing,” Luke gushes.  
“Yeah, okay, but not now.”  
“Hey, Luke, I think you should take her home. She looks a little... overwhelmed?” Alex suggests.  
“I think you’re right. Babe, you wanna go back to your house, or do you wanna see our place?” Luke asks.  
“My house. We gotta talk to my dad about me joining the band, remember?”  
“We don’t have to do that today, babe. You look about two seconds from a panic attack. How about we just go sit on your couch and watch a movie?”  
Julie nods. “Okay.”  
Before they can even leave the room, though, the panic attack hits. Julie crumples. Luke catches her and guides her over to the couch in the studio. Luke doesn’t get panic attacks, but Alex does, so Luke has somewhere to start to try and help Julie. He crouches down in front of her. “Hey, hey, babe, breathe with me. In... Out... In... Out...” When Julie’s breathing settles a little, he starts tapping out the beat to Now or Never on her knee to distract her.  
Julie smiles, her shaking finally stopping. “I’m okay. Thanks, Luke.”  
“Thanks, Alex, you mean,” Alex corrects. “He only had the slightest idea of what to do because I have panic attacks all the time. The first time I had one in front of him, Luke almost had one, too, because he wanted to help and had no idea how.”  
“Thanks to both of you, then.” Julie giggles. Luke sighs in relief. If she’s giggling, that means she’s doing better, right?  
“You ready to go?” Julie nods. Luke leads her out to the car. “Hey, so if I’m staying at your place tonight, can we stop at my house to grab some stuff?”  
“Yeah, of course. Can I see your room?”  
“If you want.”  
“I want.”  
The house that Luke pulls into the driveway of is not what Julie had been expecting. The guys are all crazy rich from the band, so she kind of expected a massive mansion. Instead, it was just like any other house. Two stories, detached garage, wooden exterior. Seeing the not-pretentious house that three rockstars live in makes her like Luke that much more.  
His room is very on-brand for him. At least a dozen band posters line the walls. There are piles of sheet music and notebooks on every surface. A guitar is propped up on a stand in the corner. Luke quickly gathers a duffle bag and some clothes. He packs it all in, adds toiletries, then starts debating which songbook to bring. He grabs three and puts his guitar into a case. He slings the duffle over his shoulder, grabs the guitar case by the handle, and holds his other hand out to Julie.  
“You ready?” He asks.  
“Yup.” They head back out to the car and Julie GPS-navigates them back to her house. When they get inside, Carlos sees the guitar case and immediately asks for lessons.  
“Sure, little man. I’ll teach you some stuff. But not on this guitar. Sheila is my baby.”  
“Sheila?” Julie asks, laughing. “Do all your guitars have names?”  
“Yes,” Luke says seriously. “The one at the studio is named Ricky.”  
“So why is Sheila a girl and Ricky a guy?”  
“Acoustics are girls and electrics are guys.” Carlos is looking at them like they’re crazy.  
“Musicians,” he scoffs, going into the kitchen.  
“Come on, Luke. Let’s put your bag in my room, then I want to show you my mom’s studio.”  
“I didn’t meet your mom this morning,” Luke comments idly. “I would have thought she’d want to meet me.”  
“She would have loved to meet you. Mom loved music. She’s the one that taught me to play the piano.” Julie tears up a little bit. “She died about six months ago.”  
“Oh, Julie, I’m so sorry. That’s awful. C’mere.” He sits down on the couch and pulls Julie into a hug on his lap. She cries into his shoulder. “Your mom may not be here with you physically but she’s always watching you, babe. Every time you play music, you summon her.”  
He’s trying to comfort her, but his last comment makes her cry harder. “I hadn’t played since she died, until today, in the studio.”  
“It brought back memories, didn’t it? Is that why you had a panic attack?” Julie nods against him. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed you to play or to join the band. It’s too much too soon, isn’t it?”  
“Don’t blame yourself, Luke, you didn’t know.” Julie pushes his arm off of her. “I need- come out to the studio with me. I need to play a certain song and I need to play it now.”  
Luke follows Julie out to the studio. He sits next to her on the bench, where she lifts the lid of the piano and starts playing. He’s once again awed by Julie’s talent and the song is incredible. As the last notes die, Julie turns to him. “My mom wrote that song for me. It’s called Wake Up.”  
“That was really, really good. You get your songwriting abilities from her.” Luke hugs Julie, only letting go when her phone buzzes and she squirms to grab it.  
“It’s my dad. He says dinner’s ready.”


	3. Stand Tall

Julie and Luke sit down next to each other at the table. When Ray notices his daughter’s red eyes, he glares at Luke. “Julie, were you crying? What did he do?”  
“Papí, he didn’t do anything! I played again today.” Ray drops his fork.  
“You played?”  
“Yeah. At band practice, I got so caught up watching Luke playing that I started singing along. Then Carrie told Luke that I write songs so he convinced me to play one of them for him. Remember the one for Flynn? I played part of that. And I’d just finished playing Wake Up when you texted me about dinner.”  
“You got my baby to play again?” Ray asks Luke.  
“Yes?”  
“Thank you, son.” Ray squeezes his shoulder. “Thank you.”  
“Julie? Does this mean you’ll play for me again?” Carlos asks. “I want you to play again. I like hearing you sing.”  
Julie starts crying again. “Yes, Carlos. I’ll play for you.”  
“But not tonight,” Carlos decides. “You look like you need a break.”  
“You’re a good brother, Carlos.”  
“I know.”  
Everyone turns back to their spaghetti, eating quickly. When Luke sees that Julie’s finished, he clears their plates. “Can these just go in the dishwasher?” He asks.  
“Yeah.” Ray follows Luke into the kitchen with his and Carlos’ plates. He sets them down and grabs Luke’s arm. “Luke. Thank you. I can’t tell you what it means to me that you were able to get Julie to play again. She’s so incredibly talented and I could tell she misses music. You’ve done more for her in one day than I’ve been able to do since her mother died. You’re part of the family now. Thank you.”  
“I know I just met her today, but she means so much to me already. I didn’t know that she’d stopped playing, but her voice when she was singing along... She’s amazing. I’d do anything for her.” Luke hesitates. “The guys and I asked her to join the band. We’d been thinking about adding another vocalist or a keyboard player to expand our sound, but we hadn’t found someone good enough. That, or they clashed with our group dynamics. Julie, though? She’s incredible and the guys already love her. I kind of think that Alex wants to adopt her. My point is, she agreed to join us, but I’m worried now that it might be too much. She’s always got a place on stage with us, but I’m not going to be upset if she decides she can’t do it.”  
“You’re a good man, Luke Patterson. I was worried because you’re so much older than her and a rockstar and everything, but you’re good for her. She’ll join the band when she’s ready.”  
“Thank you.”  
“Go find our girl and give her a hug. I think she needs it.”  
Luke grins and heads back out to find Julie. He checks her room and sees her sitting on her bed, a notebook on her lap and a pencil in her hand. “What’re you writing?”  
Julie jumps. “Oh, Luke. Hi. It’s a new song. Do you want to help me with it?”  
“Yes! Show me what you’ve got.”  
“I’ve just got this part of a chorus running through my head. Whatever happens, even if I'm the last standing, I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall. Whatever happens, even when everything's down, I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall.”  
“How about ‘I gotta keep on dreaming, 'Cause I gotta catch that feeling. Whatever happens, even if I'm the last standing, I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall.’”  
Luke grabs his guitar as Julie enthusiastically writes down his lyrics.  
“It could start like ‘Don't blink. No, I don't want to miss it. One thing, and it’s back to the beginning, 'Cause everything is rushing in fast. Keep going on, never look back,” Julie suggests.  
“Then for a prechorus ‘And it's one, two, three, four times that I'll try for one more night. Light a fire in my eyes. I'm going out of my mind.’” Luke builds on Julie’s lyrics, which she scribbles down as they sing. “And then the chorus.”  
“We should add Alex’s drums after the chorus. And Reggie’s bass.”  
“Jules, are we writing a song for Sunset Curve?” Luke asks.  
“Yeah, if that’s okay?” Julie looks doubtful for a minute.  
“That’s perfect, babe. What do you think for the second verse?”  
“‘Right now, I'm loving every minute. Hands down, can't let myself forgеt it, no, 'Cause everything is rushing in fast. Keep holding on, nеver look back.’”  
“That sounds amazing! Then let’s add the prechorus in again, but I’ll sing the last line?” Luke proposes.  
“We should add your guitar when you start singing.”  
“Right, having me come in all at once is a good idea.”  
“And then I can sing the first two lines of the chorus, then you take over?” Julie grins.  
“And how’s this for the bridge? ‘Like I'm glowing in the dark. I keep on going when it's all falling apart. Yeah, I know with all my heart. Ooh, ooh. Never look back.’”  
“Yes! And it can end with a slightly modified chorus,” Luke is practically bouncing.  
“I think we’ve got something great here.” Julie agrees. “Can the guys come over to work on their parts?”  
“I’ll text them.” Luke summons the rest of the band while Julie pulls out her phone and texts her brother and dad to tell them to go to the studio. They’re already there when Julie and Luke arrive.  
“Hey, so we just wrote a song.”  
“Seriously? You guys were in your room for like an hour.” Ray doesn’t know why he’s surprised. His daughter is uber talented and Luke is a literal rockstar selling out concerts all over the world.  
“Yeah. Reggie and Alex will be here in a couple minutes to play it with us.” Luke shrugs like it’s no big deal that a major band will be playing in Ray’s garage.  
By the time Alex and Reggie arrive, Luke and Julie have set up Rose’s old drums. Reggie brought his own bass, so they have everything they need. “Okay, guys. Jules and I wrote a song just now. I’ll signal to you when you should join in. Just... do what feels right.”  
“Oh, Papí, will you record us? I wanna show the girls.”  
Ray nods, taking out his phone. Everyone takes their places and Julie starts playing. Alex and Reggie add in when Luke tells them to. By the time Luke joins in with his guitar and lyrics, Carlos and Ray are crying. Julie’s playing again, a new song, which means she’s writing music again, and it sounds amazing. When the song ends, Carlos jumps up and gives Julie a huge hug.  
“Julie, you’re awesome. Thank you for playing again,” he says. He then turns to address Luke. “Thank you for helping my sister.”  
“She’s my soulmate. That’s my job.”  
“No, your job is to keep writing us hits,” Reggie jokes.  
“That song was mostly Julie. I just helped with parts of the chorus and bridge.”  
“Okay, it’s official. Julie, you’re our new lead singer and songwriter. Luke, you just keep helping her be amazing.”  
Luke rolls his eyes at Alex. “She doesn’t need help to be amazing.”  
“So, if I’m part of the band, does that mean we can put my mom’s song on the next album?”  
“Can we hear it?” Alex asks.  
“It’s really good, guys.” Luke nudges Julie back towards the piano. “Play it for them.”  
“I’m probably going to start crying, though.”  
“It’ll be okay. Just play. You can close your eyes if it helps,” Alex suggests.  
Julie places her fingers on the piano and closes her eyes. “Luke, will you sit with me?” She asks.  
He nods, moving into place. Julie takes a deep breath then dives right in. “Here’s the one thing I want you to know. You got someplace to go. Life’s a test, yes, but you go toe to toe. You don’t give up, no, you grow.”  
Alex starts crying openly partway through and Reggie subtly wipes at his eyes. When Julie finishes the song, Reggie can’t resist giving her a hug.  
“Your mom really loved you, you know. I can tell from that song. She’d be so happy that you’re playing it,” Alex says.  
“And it can definitely go on the next album if you want but I think it’d be better as a single,” Luke says. The other guys nod in agreement.  
“A single? Just me?”  
“Babe, you’ve got a voice like a wrecking ball. You’re a force to be reckoned with. I bet if you record that song and put it on youtube, you’ll get like a million hits in a day.”  
“It just feels big, releasing my mom’s song like that. If it’s on an album, it’s not in the spotlight so much. A single doesn’t have any songs to distract from it.”  
“Julie, mija, your young man is right. You need to record and release that song as a single. I think if you do that, it will be therapeutic. And a hit.”  
“O-Okay. Luke, will you help me?”  
“Absolutely. I can get you an appointment at the label to record the song, and we can release it whenever you’re ready.”  
“And we’ll be there, too, if you want,” Reggie says. “You’re standing on the edge of great, Julie.”  
“Hey, that would be a great lyric! Carlos, can you pass me that notebook? Papí, do you have a pen?”  
They hand Julie the items requested, but Ray insists that she go to bed after she writes down the lyric. “You can work on it in the morning, but you have school tomorrow.”  
“You have school?” Luke looks wounded. “That means I have to give you up for the whole day!”  
“You’ll see me first thing in the morning and I’ll come straight back after school. Write me a song if you miss me.”  
“Oh, god, now we won’t see Luke tomorrow,” Alex grumbles.  
Julie finishes picks up the notebook with the new lyric, grabs Luke’s hand, and tells everyone goodnight. Alex and Reggie head back to their house, Ray carries a sleepy Carlos to bed and Julie and Luke get changed for bed.  
They stare at each other awkwardly from opposite sides of the bed. “Oh, this is ridiculous!” Julie exclaims. “We’ve already slept together and you’ve held me while we’re awake. Why is this so difficult?”  
“You’ve got a point,” Luke chuckles. They get into bed and Julie rests her head on his chest. “Goodnight, babe.”


	4. School

Luke isn’t really awake when Julie gets up. It’s still early, so Julie tries to be quiet as she gets ready. She’s downstairs in the kitchen finishing her glass of orange juice when Luke comes trudging in. He pouts at her.  
“You’re really going to school,” he grumbles. “I’ll miss you.”  
“I have to at least graduate high school. That’s always been the deal. I can do whatever I want with music, but school comes first. I’m in the music program, though.”  
“Your school has a music program?” Julie nods.  
“Yeah. I’ll tell you all about it after school, but I really gotta go. The girls are in the driveway waiting for me.” Julie gives him a hug. “Go back to sleep for a bit then write me that song.”  
Luke nods, frowning. “Have a good day at school.”  
Julie hugs him one last time before swinging her backpack over her shoulder and heading out to Carrie’s car.  
Flynn is sitting shotgun and they both turn to stare at her when she climbs into the backseat. “So how’s your rockstar?” She asks.  
“Not a fan of being woken up by my alarm at 6:30 AM. He was practically a zombie.”  
“Well, who would want to wake up that early? School is a menace.” Flynn is the furthest from being a morning person in their friend group.   
“Oh, we wrote a song together.”   
Carrie, who had been backing down the driveway, slams on the breaks. She turns around and glares at Julie. “You can’t just spring that on us! What’s it called? Is it good?”   
“It’s called Stand Tall, and I think it’s good.”  
“Sing it for us!” Flynn cajoles.  
“I can do one better. We invited the guys over to play it with us and my dad recorded it.” Julie cues up the video on her phone and passes it to Flynn in the front seat. Flynn and Carrie lean over the phone and Flynn presses play.  
The girls are silent as the watch, then when it ends, they squeal. “Oh, my god, Jules, that song is incredible!”  
“She’s not wrong, it’s a great song, but can we talk about the chemistry?” Carrie asks, a knowing glint in her eyes.  
“Chemistry?” Julie has no idea what Carrie’s talking about.   
“You and Luke! Singing together!” She gushes.  
“She’s got a point,” Flynn agrees. “You guys look practically in love.”  
“Just watch the video again and look at Luke. You’ll see what we mean.” Carrie starts driving again. Flynn hands Julie her phone back.  
Restarting the video, Julie watches Luke closely. His eyes don’t leave her even once as they sing. He’s got a bright grin on his face that could light up LA for a month. Even though it’s barely been twenty-four hours since they woke up together, Julie feels like she knows him. Music is his everything and he uses it to express the things he can’t say. Julie thinks back to the song she asked him to write her. What will he use it to say?  
She’s still watching the video over and over when they pull up at school.   
“Hey, Jules? We’re here,” Flynn points out.   
Julie sighs, putting away her phone. She grabs her backpack and follows her friends inside, still lost in thought. She doesn’t realize that they’ve reached Flynn’s locker until Carrie claps in her face. Julie jumps.  
“Damn, girl, you’ve got it bad.”  
“Hang on, I gotta call Luke.” Flynn and Carrie exchange a look. Julie is clearly gone on her soulmate.   
She isn’t paying attention to the girls as she hits the contact on her phone. When Luke picks up, he seems more alert than he was this morning.   
“What’s up, babe?” He asks.  
“Hey, huge favor to ask. I just remember that I have to perform for class today and I- I really-”  
“You want me to come and be there?”  
“Yes, but also-”  
“You want me to sing with you? I’ll do it, babe, anything.”  
“Thank you. Can the guys come, too? I wanna play as a band. It’s a big grade and...”  
“Jules, we’ll be there if you want us. What do you want to play, though? The only thing we’ve written as a band is Stand Tall.”  
“I know it’s your song, but it’s the first song I was actually able to play.” Julie hesitates. “Can we play Bright?”  
“Babe, you’re part of the band now. That means it’s our song, not just mine. If you want to play Bright, then we’ll play Bright. What time to we need to be there? Do we need to bring Alex’s drums or do you guys have some?”  
“We’re a performing arts school, Luke. We have drums coming out of our ears. I’ll make sure we have them set up in the classroom. Can you be here at 2:30? I’ll meet you at the front of the school. And, Luke, thank you.”  
“Anything, babe. One last question, babe. What school do you go to?” Julie huffs out a laugh.  
“That’s pretty important, isn’t it? Los Feliz High School. I gotta go tell my teacher that I’ll be having some guests for the performance. Thank you, again.”  
“I’m happy to help, Jules. I’m going to let the guys know and we’ll be there for you, babe.” Julie hangs up the phone after some quick goodbyes and only then notices Flynn and Carrie staring at her.  
“Is Sunset Curve seriously coming to a high school of all places to perform for a school project?” Flynn asks.  
Julie bites her lip. “Yes? Do you think- should I not have asked him? I mean, I know it’s a step down for them, but-”  
Carrie grabs Julie by the shoulders and shakes her. “Snap out of it, girl. You’re gonna rock the performance. And Luke is clearly crazy about you. What guy would go for performing in sold-out arenas to a high school classroom if it wasn’t love?”  
“You really think he loves me?” Julie asks hesitantly.  
“If he doesn’t now, he will soon,” Flynn says. “You’re insanely awesome. Sometimes just insane,” they laugh at that, “but you’re beautiful and talented and altogether amazing. Own it.”  
“Okay, so who wants to come watch me tell Mrs. Harrison that Sunset Curve is coming to her classroom?” The girls raise their hands.


	5. Reprisal

Mrs. Harrison had decided that Julie was going to be the last one to perform so that she could get her guests. She had a feeling that they wouldn’t settle down for any performances after Julie’s, anyway, so it worked out well. Julie’s waiting outside the school when the guys approach, having parked in the visitor’s lot.  
Luke notices immediately that Julie is shaking and covering her mouth. He hands his guitar off to Alex and runs up to his soulmate. “Hey, Jules, you ok?”  
It’s then that he realizes that she’s not crying or panicking, she’s laughing. “Seeing you guys reminded me of my teacher’s reaction when I told her I was bringing guests to perform with me. She was reminding me that I still need to be an active participant and all that, so I told her I was the new lead singer of an established band. Mrs. Harrison wanted to know what band I’d joined and I swear she looked like she was going to pass out when I told her.”  
The other guys, who had joined them by then, burst out laughing.   
“I guess we’re kind of a big deal, huh?” Reggie says.  
“You are. Thank you, guys, so much. I was so nervous. This is my last chance to play something if I want to stay in the music program and I wasn’t sure I could do it, so thank you.”  
“Julie, you’re not just Luke’s soulmate. You’re our friend, too. We’d never leave you hanging. We got your back,” Alex declares.  
“Thank you,” Julie says again, impulsively hugging him. When she lets go, Alex’s eyes are damp, but no one comments.  
“So, where are we going?” Reggie asks.  
“Oh, right, we’re playing in Mrs. Harrison’s class. You’re borrowing Nick’s teammate Jake’s drums because I didn’t want you to have to drag yours down here. Is that okay, Alex?”  
“If this Jake’s drum set has all the parts, I’m good,” Alex says. “Let’s do this!”  
Julie leads them to the classroom in question. Julie sticks her head in and gives Mrs. Harrison a thumbs up. Mrs. Harrison gestures for her to come in and the guys follow. The students break out into murmurs at the sight of the famous band. Luke and Reggie take their instruments out of their cases and stand where Julie points them to.  
“Hi, I’m Julie Molina, this is Sunset Curve, and here’s our new song, Bright.” Julie takes her place at the piano. She looks over at Luke nervously and he gives her a thumbs up. She smiles back and starts playing.   
Her singing starts out hesitant but she just keeps her eyes locked on Luke’s and slowly she builds confidence. The guys come in on their various instruments right on time and Julie sings louder. When Luke starts singing, he winks at her. As their voices mix Julie finds herself standing and walking over to her soulmate.   
“Chemistry,” Flynn whispers to Carrie and they giggle.  
Julie’s bouncing around the area blocked off for performing. She and Reggie bop together for a bit, and she goes and puts her hand on Alex’s shoulder for a few beats but she always comes back to Luke. It’s like the four of them have been performing together for years, but everyone knows they haven’t. Julie just fits. When the song ends, Alex stands up from his borrowed drumset and comes around to stand with the rest of the band and they bow.  
Mrs. Harrison grins at Julie. “So, Julie was our last performance and I have nothing else planned for today, so you’re dismissed.”  
Of course, no one leaves. They have way too many questions for that.  
“Julie! Nick said you had a friend who was coming to play with you and needed to borrow my drums but this... How the hell did you get Sunset Curve to come perform with you?” Jake asks.  
“Thanks for the loan, man,” Alex says before Julie can answer. He tosses a drumstick in the air and catches it. “As for why we’re here, when our lead singer asks us to come back her up, we’re always down. Julie’s got a gift and it’s a joy to play with her.”  
“Wait, Julie’s your lead singer?” Kayla asks. Kayla leads a pop group, Dirty Candy, and she does not look happy. Carrie had been a part of Dirty Candy at the beginning but left when the group became toxic and about one-upping other people instead of sharing music. “She doesn’t even play anymore!”  
“Yup.” Reggie rests his elbow on Julie’s shoulder. “Once we heard her sing, we insisted. Spent like ten minutes begging her before she agreed.”  
Reggie may not know Kayla, but he can tell that there’s bad blood there. If this girl is causing trouble for his little sister, as he’s already come to see Julie, then he’s got Julie’s back. His parents were always fighting and until the guys, he’d never had anyone to support him unconditionally. He knows that’s not Julie’s situation, but he’s still determined to stand by her anyway.  
“How’d you even meet?” Jake asks. The guys know that his curiosity is not malicious, but they’re still hesitant to tell a stranger too much.  
“Do we answer that?” Luke turns the question over to Julie.  
“Do you mind?”  
“Babe, I’d shout it from the rooftops if I thought you’d let me.”  
“Babe?” Kayla parrots. “Are you two a couple?”  
Julie sighs. “Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag. Yesterday was my sixteenth birthday. I didn’t wake up alone.”  
Kayla’s jaw drops. “Your soulmate is Luke Patterson?”  
Luke reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. He looks at his driver’s license and nods. “Yup, that’s me.”  
“Okay, well, while it doesn’t make sense how Julie could be your soulmate, it at least explains why you let her into the band.”  
“Hey, no. That’s absolutely not why we let Julie into the band. You’ve heard her sing, I know you have. You were right there when we played a minute ago. Julie’s got a voice like a wrecking ball. You can’t hear it and not be changed,” Alex doesn’t hesitate to stop the potential rumor before it can spread.  
“Alex is right. And her lyrics? She and Luke wrote something last night that’s for sure going on our next album.”  
“Really?” Julie asks Reggie.  
“If you don’t mind, that is, Jules. Stand Tall is a hell of a song.”  
“No, absolutely. Stand Tall can go on the album, I mean, I wrote it for the band, so...” Julie shrugs. She turns to Luke. “Speaking of songs, I know I called you basically as soon as I got here, but did you have time to write me that song?”  
Luke scratches the back of his neck in discomfort. “Yeah, sort of. I mean, it’s done and it’s good, but, uh, it’s kind of- can I play it for you not in front of a bunch of people I don’t know?”  
“Oh, yeah, no, that’s fine. We can actually go. This was my last class. Drive me home?” Luke grins, grabbing Julie’s hand. He puts his guitar away one-handed, Reggie packs up his bass, and Julie waves goodbye to Carrie and Flynn.  
Once they’re in the car, Luke groans. “I do not miss high school.”  
“You said it, man,” Alex agrees.  
“Julie, who was that girl?” Reggie asks.  
“Oh, Kayla? She’s got a girl group that she thinks is way better than it is. Carrie used to be their lead, but the other girls got super mean and competitive. Once she left, Dirty Candy lost like 90% of their talent.”  
“Her group is called Dirty Candy?” Luke scoffs. “No wonder she’s so bitter.”  
Julie laughs. “Yeah, Carrie was outvoted when they were picking names. On another note, are we just going to sit in my school’s parking lot indefinitely, or?”  
Luke looks embarrassed. “Where do you wanna go, babe?”  
“Somewhere with a studio. Reggie said that thing yesterday, about standing on the edge of great? I can’t get it out of my head. It’s, like, the perfect lyric.”  
“You’ve got a song buzzing around up there, don’t you?” He asks, tapping her forehead.  
“I think I have a chorus, at least most of it, and I have to get it onto paper.”  
Alex and Reggie chuckle at that. “She’s definitely your soulmate, Luke,” Reggie declares.  
“Haven’t we established that?” Luke rolls his eyes.  
“He just means that when you get hit with an idea for a song, we don’t get coherency out of you until it’s done,” Alex elaborates. At Luke’s glare, he continues. “It’s not a bad thing! We get some killer lyrics that way. It’s just sometimes kind of impossible to talk to you in the meantime.”  
“Okay, then. You wanna go to your mom’s studio?”  
“Wherever,” Julie says absently, having pulled out a notebook and a pen from her backpack. She’s humming, writing stuff down then crossing it out. “And like a rubber ball, we come bouncing back. We all got a second act inside of us...” She frowns, then scribbles something else. “It shound end like it begins. Get rid of the drums and bass there, add back the piano... Running from the past, tripping on the now. What is lost can be found, it’s obvious.”  
Luke grins. His soulmate is amazing.


	6. Edge of Great

It takes a substantial effort to get Julie to stop writing long enough to get to the studio. It ends up being Reggie who goes inside to tell Ray that they’re all in the studio. He returns with a can of soda and a bag of chips. “Ray says we should try and get Julie to do at least a little bit of homework.”  
Alex snorts. “Yeah, good luck with that, Reg. Luke’s down the rabbit hole, too.”  
“Okay, let’s sing what you’ve got. That sometimes helps to figure out where the issue is,” Luke is saying, completely oblivious to Reggie’s return.  
“It’s definitely the chorus, but I’ll start from the top, just in case. Running from the past, tripping on he now. What is lost can be found, it’s obvious. And like a rubber ball, we come bouncing back. We all got a second act inside of us. Then you guys come in on the instruments for the chorus. I believe, I believe that we're just one dream away from who we're meant to be. That we're standing on the edge of something big, something crazy our best days are yet unknown. That this moment is ours to own 'cause we're standing on the edge of great. Great... Great... 'Cause we're standing on the edge of great.”  
“Okay, so that sounds incredible, babe. How did you write that so fast?”  
“Ideas have been bouncing around ever since Reggie said it yesterday, so it wasn’t too hard. It feels like it needs some more...something, though. What’s missing?”  
“I think the issue is at the end, there, where you’re repeating ‘great.’ Maybe if the guys and I sing ‘on the edge of great’ in between each time you say great? Like this. Take it from ‘that this moment is ours to own.’” Julie sings and Luke harmonizes as he’d suggested.  
“Yes!” Julie high-fives Luke. “That’s perfect!” Julie seems to notice the other half of Sunset Curve then. “Guys, what do you think?”  
“I think adding you to the band was the best idea Luke’s had since starting the band,” Alex says. “That song was on fire, Jules.”  
“Yeah, the song was great, but your dad says you have to do some homework.” Reggie hides behind Alex. Luke never responded well to that, so Reggie figures his soulmate wouldn’t, either.  
“Ha, well, this is homework. I need something for my composition class by Friday.”  
“Does that mean we’re coming to school with you on Friday?” Luke asks hopefully.  
“No, Mrs. Harrison has us turn in sheet music for that, so she doesn’t have to take up as much class time having us perform.” Luke frowns at that.   
“Dude, less than an hour ago, you said that you didn’t miss high school. Why do you want to go back?”  
“It’s not about high school, Reg,” Luke retorts. “It’s about Julie. School is like, eight hours or something. I missed her today!”  
“Awww, Luke...” Julie rests her head on his shoulder. “That was sweet.”  
“You don’t understand because you haven’t met your soulmate,” Alex explains. “When it’s new and you’re apart for too long, you feel wrong. Like there’s a piece of you missing.” He blushes. “And then when you’re with him again, it feels like magic. Like that adrenaline rush after a concert.”  
“Who is he?” Julie asks. Alex looks confused for a moment before his expression clears.  
“Oh, right, you haven’t met Willie. God, it feels like you’ve been around forever but it’s only been like two days.”  
“I want to meet this Willie. Gotta make sure he’s good enough for you.” Alex looks embarrassed at the direction the conversation has gone.  
“The guys have already fully vetted him, but I can invite him over, if that’s okay?”  
“Yeah! Call him. Reggie, can you go tell dad we’ll have one more for dinner?”  
“Aye, aye, captain!”   
Luke faceplams. “Reggie, don’t ever do that again.”  
“Hey, Jules, what’s your address?” Alex asks, holding his phone against his chest. Julie tells him and Alex turns back to his conversation with Willie. “Uh huh, yeah, okay, see you soon.” Alex hangs up. “He’ll be here in about ten minutes.”  
Reggie wanders back in, this time with cookies. “I just realized, we never vetted Julie.”  
“Oh, god, this’ll be a nightmare.” Luke sighs. “Babe, feel free to ignore them.”  
“Nah, it’s fine, Luke.” Julie moves to sit on the couch. “Come sit with me.” Luke sits down next to her and she tucks herself into his side. “What’s your first question?”  
“Is Luke cute?” Reggie asks, starting off light.  
“Yes,” Julie and Alex say at once. Julie looks at him curiously. Reggie sighs. So maybe that wasn’t the best question to start with.  
“What? I have eyes. I’m not, like, into him or anything, but he’s a good-looking guy.”  
“Okay, next question, please!” Luke begs, embarrassed. He doesn’t want Alex mentioning that Luke was his first kiss.  
“No, wait, I have a question. Were you two ever...” Julie hesitates.  
“A couple?” Alex asks. When Julie nods, he shakes his head. “No, but Luke was my first kiss.” Julie looks between Luke and Alex curiously. “We were, what, thirteen? Fourteen? It was around when I was first starting to think that maybe I liked boys, so Luke said I could kiss him to see how it felt, see if I liked it.”  
“And did you?”  
“Well, thirteen-year-old me thought that Luke was a great kisser and I had a crush on him for like a month. Now the thought makes me cringe. It would be like kissing my sister. And you know how I feel about kissing women,” Alex sighs. “But it did clear up a lot of things. I’m sure it was super awkward for him, but it made me realize that yes, I was gay. So, if I never thanked you for that, Luke, thanks.”  
Luke scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment. “You’re welcome, dude, but can we please change the subject?”  
Reggie takes pity on Luke. “What are your intentions with our friend?” He asks Julie.  
“Like, in what way? With the band? As friends? Or?”  
"As a couple.”  
“Reggie, you do realize I’ve only known him for two days, right? We’re not a couple yet. He hasn’t even kissed me.”  
“He hasn’t?” The guys seem surprised. Luke flushes. He’s saved from having to answer that by Willie knocking on the open doors of the studio.  
“Hey, hotdog,” He says, coming in to sit next to Alex and turning to look at Julie. “I’m Willie. You must be Julie. Nice studio.”  
“Hi, thanks. It was my mom’s.” Julie hesistates to ask, but gives in. “I gotta ask. Why do you call Alex hotdog?”  
The Sunset Curve guys groan as Willie chuckles. “I actually met Alex before we found out we were soulmates. In the ER, of all places. I’d broken my arm skateboarding, and the boys had a serious case of food poisoning.”   
“The worst!” Reggie looks nauseated even thinking about it.  
“We can’t even look at hotdogs anymore,” Alex says.  
“I swear we were puking for a week,” Luke adds.  
“Anyway, when I woke up in Willie’s bed, he looked at me and said, ‘hotdog guy!’ It ended up being shortened to just hotdog, and despite my best efforts, I can’t break him of the habit.”  
“Yeah, well, part of the problem might be the way you blush whenever he calls you that,” Luke argues. “If anyone thought it actually bothered you, I bet he’d stop.”  
“So, Julie, did you finish that song you and Luke were working on?” Alex desperately tries to change the subject.  
“Yes. Well, sort of. I still need you and Reggie to write for your instruments.”  
“You write songs?” Willie asks Julie. “Wait, no, better question. Luke actually lets you help write songs?”  
“It’s more like he helps her.” Luke kicks Alex’s foot at that comment.  
“We’ve written two together.”  
“Wasn’t your birthday, like, yesterday?” Willie’s impressed. Most people, even the other guys, struggle to keep up with Luke once he gets going. For Julie to be able to write with him at all, much less so productively, is kind of a big deal.  
“Hey, can we get back to an earlier topic?” Reggie really wants to know why Luke hasn’t kissed Julie. He can tell that they’re attracted to each other and Luke’s always touching the people he cares about. He shows affection by touch or a song.  
“What?”  
“I still wanna know why you haven’t kissed Julie yet, Luke.”   
Willie raises an eyebrow at that. “He hasn’t kissed her? He’s like the most touchy-feely guy I know.”  
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I don’t want to push her. She’s so young.”  
Julie frowns at that. “So I’m old enough for you to go wrapping yourself around me at night but kissing me is where you draw the line?”  
“Oooh, Luke, you’re in trouble...”  
“Yes, thank you, Reggie.” Luke turns back to Julie. “I just- It’s only been like two days but you’re already so precious to me and I don’t- you don’t need to let me- I’m not going anywhere.”  
“Luke, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. If I don’t want you to do something, you’ll know. You can kiss me unless I say otherwise.”  
Luke’s eyes are big. “I- really?”  
“Yeah, but not right now. Our first kiss is not happening because Reggie pushed you into it.” Luke deflates. “You’re sweet to worry about me, but I’m not a little kid. If you want to further our relationship, just tell me. The worst I can do is say no.” Julie presses a kiss to his cheek. “You don’t ever have to be afraid to ask me anything, okay?”  
Luke nods dumbly, hand going up to touch where his soulmate’s lips were.  
“Hey, Julie, I think you broke your boyfriend,” Willie says, laughing.  
“He’s not my boyfriend. He hasn’t asked me if he could be, so he doesn’t get that label.”  
Alex reaches over and slaps the back of Luke’s head. “You’re an idiot, dude. Do your friends have to advance your relationship every step of the way? Ask her out!”  
“Yeah, man, I mean, I just got here, but I can already tell you’re crazy about her,” Willie adds.  
Luke opens his mouth. “I swear to god, Luke, if you ask me out right now, I will end you.” Julie sighs at his confusion. “It’s like what I said about kissing me. Man up and decide to do it yourself, not because your friends told you to. I’m going to go call Carrie. I need to vent about what idiots men are. I’ll see you guys at dinner.” Julie gets up and heads for the door. “Oh, it was nice to meet you, Willie.”  
“What- what just happened?” Luke asks. The guys just laugh.


	7. Perfect Harmony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is for disneygirl112686! Thanks for all the support!

In her bedroom, Julie calls Carrie.   
“What did he do?” Carrie asks the moment she picks up.  
“The guys and I were hanging out and Reggie asked me what my intentions were with his friend and I’m just like, it’s been two days, he hasn’t even kissed me. And then Reggie’s like, why haven’t you kissed her? So Luke says that he ‘doesn’t want to push me.’ He seemed to think that I’d feel obligated to let him kiss me so that he wouldn’t leave.”  
“Ouch,” Carrie mutters. “It’s like he forgets that you’re soulmates.”  
“Exactly! So I told him he was an idiot and that he could kiss me unless I said otherwise, and he was so confused. Alex said, and I quote, ‘I think you broke your boyfriend.’ So then I had to explain that they can’t use that label until he asks me out and-”  
“Wait, he hasn’t asked you out? The hell is his problem?”  
“I know! The guys told him to get his act together and ask me out and I swear, he turned to me and was literally about to ask. Like, I don’t want someone to have to be talked into asking me out or to only do it because they’ve been told to.”  
“For someone that’s so smooth in interviews, he sure does know how to make a fool of himself.”   
“At least he’s cute,” Julie huffs.  
“That boy is lucky he’s a talented musician because looks can only get you so far.”  
“Yeah...” Luke knocks on the door, before cracking it open and sticking his head in.  
“Julie?” He whispers.  
“Gotta go, Carrie. Looks like Luke’s here to keep digging himself in deeper.” Carrie says goodbye and they hang up.  
“Julie, I’m sorry.” He comes in, holding his guitar. “Can I play you the song I wrote you this morning?”  
“Am I going to be even more upset with you after I hear it?”  
“I hope not,” Luke mutters. “It’s- it’s actually a duet. Will you sing it with me?”  
“Fine.”  
Luke hands her the lyrics. “I sing first. You ready?” Julie nods, so Luke starts playing. “Step into my world. Bittersweet love story about a girl. Shook me to the core. Voice like an angel, I've never heard before.”  
Julie takes a deep breath. “Here in front of me. Shining so much brighter than I have ever seen. Life can be so mean. But when he goes, I know he doesn't leave.”   
Luke starts singing with her. “The truth is finally breaking through  
Two worlds collide when I'm with you. Our voices rise and soar so high. We come to life when we're in perfect harmony. Woah, woah. Perfect harmony. Woah, woah. Perfect harmony...”  
Julie sets aside the songbook. “Luke...”  
“There’s more!” Luke says, confused and a little bit nervous. Doesn’t she want to hear the rest? Is his attempt at fixing things making things worse? He knew he should have asked the guys.  
“Put your guitar down.”  
“But-”  
“Just do it!” Luke, admittedly a little scared, does as commanded. As soon as the guitar is out of the way, Julie flings herself into his arms.  
“Julie?”  
“That was really, really sweet, Luke.” She pulls back slightly. “Did the guys tell you to play the song for me?”  
“No, that was my idea. I wanted you to see what you mean to me and why I’m so scared to screw things up.”  
Julie smiles, burrowing back into his chest. “Good.”  
“Jules?” She hums in acknowledgement. “Um, can I- is it still ‘not now?’”  
“Luke, you’re an idiot, but you’re a sweet idiot. C’mere.” Julie tilts her head up and Luke leans down. He brushes his lips against hers once, then twice.  
“Is this okay?”  
“Perfect.”   
They lay there cuddled together for a couple of minutes, just enjoying each other’s presence. Carlos, coming to stand in the doorway, clears his throat. “Hey, Julie? Papí says dinner’s ready. You guys coming down?”  
“Yeah. We’ll be right there. Can you go out to the studio and get the guys?”  
“Who’s here? Is Alex Mercer here? Can he teach me to play the drums?”  
“Yeah, Alex is here. I bet he would teach you, but you know what you’ll want to learn more?” Julie teases him.  
“No, what?”  
“His soulmate, Willie, skateboards.” Carlos is about to burst with excitement.  
“Do you think he’d teach me?”  
Julie looks up at Luke. “What do you think? You know him better than I do.”  
“Willie would honestly love to.” Luke grins at Carlos. “He thinks everyone needs to know how to skateboard.”  
“Carlos, Willie’s in the studio, too.” Julie has barely finished speaking when Carlos takes off running. “So, do you know how to skateboard, then?”  
“Ha, no. I won’t let him teach me.” Luke doesn’t say it, but he’s afraid to learn. They met Willie the first time while he was getting his arm patched up from a skateboarding fall. If Luke breaks his arm, he can’t play, and nothing is worth risking that. “You wanna go down for dinner?”  
“Not really, but I don’t wanna make the guys have dinner with my dad for the first time without me there. He’s never met them, so...”  
Luke gets up and extends a hand. “Then down, we go.”  
Immediately upon their arrival in the kitchen, Carlos comes running over. “Willie’s gonna teach me how to skateboard!”  
“That’s awesome, little man. Still want me to teach you how to play the guitar?” Luke asks.  
“Yes! My friends are never gonna believe that I’m getting guitar lessons from a literal rockstar!” Carlos bounces off to go help Ray carry serving dishes in.  
“So, I see you guys made up?” Alex nods at Luke and Julie’s joined hands.  
“He’s still a disaster, but he’s my disaster,” Julie declares. “He played me the song he wrote me this morning.”  
“Is it going to be a hit?”  
“Well, I’m sure it would be, if it was ever going to be released,” Julie says.   
Luke frowns. “You don’t want to release it?”  
“I mean, if you want to, we can, but I kind of liked the idea of it being just for us.” Luke grins at that, pulling Julie into a hug.   
“Whatever you want,” he whispers into her hair.  
“Aw,” Reggie coos. “They’re so cute. Our little Luke is growing up...”  
“Reggie, I’m older than you.” Luke rolls his eyes. “Come on, babe, let’s sit down.” Luke leads Julie over to the table, pulling out her chair for her. She sits down. Luke claims the chair next to her and the guys take whatever seats they’re closest to. Carlos and Ray join them, bringing in some extra chairs from around the house.  
“So, mija, who’s your new friend?” Ray asks.  
“This is Willie. He’s Alex’s soulmate.”  
“Welcome, Willie. Reggie, do you have a soulmate that’ll be coming around here sometime?” Ray is debating getting a bigger kitchen table. Seven people is already a squeeze, and if Reggie gets a plus one and Flynn, Nick, and Carrie come over, well, he’ll need more room. Ray doesn’t mind, though. It’s nice to have the house so full of life and people. It’s felt different since Rose died, but now it’s starting to feel like a home again.  
“Not yet,” he sighs.   
“Oh, hey, Reggie, I’ve been meaning to ask you. My friend Nick has a huge crush on you. Luke says he’s your type. I wanted to set you guys up on a date and not tell Nick who he’s meeting. His reaction would be priceless. You in?” Julie gives Reggie her best puppy-dog eyes, and he can’t say no.  
“Uh, yeah, sure, I guess.”  
“Nick’s birthday is in a couple of weeks, so it’ll have to be soon.”  
“Maybe Friday can be date night for the band? Cancel rehearsal, you and Nick go out, Willie and Alex do something, and Jules, will you go on a date with me?” Luke scratches the back of his neck again. Julie’s starting to realize that it’s a nervous tick for when he’s embarrassed or uncomfortable.  
Julie tilts her head to the side, expression blank. “Are you seriously asking me out in front of my dad?”  
“Yeah? I’m being a disaster again, Jules, aren’t I? I shouldn’t have asked you out in front of everyone and put you on the spot like that. I’m sorry babe, I just- I really, really want to take you out. I’ll ask again sometime. Do better then.”  
Reggie rolls his eyes, leaning forward. “Dude, she didn’t say no.”  
“She didn’t- wait. I’m confused. Am I supposed to ask again later or-” Luke’s babbling. Julie giggles.  
“Luke, calm down. You could have timed asking better, but I’d love to go out with you on Friday,” Julie kisses his cheek. “What do you want to do?”  
“It’s a surprise.” The words come out of Luke’s mouth before he has time to think about it. “I’ll pick you up from school and then we can go?”  
Carlos laughs. “For a famous rockstar, you sure have a lot to learn about girls. I’m ten and I know that Julie can’t just go straight from school.”  
“Wait, why not?”  
“Girls like to dress up for things. A first date with her soulmate is a big deal. She won’t want to wear school clothes on your date and she won’t wear date clothes to school.” Carlos is pleased to see his father and Alex nodding along.  
“Little man is right. I have sisters, dude, and I can say with absolute certainty that not one of them ever went on a date without doing their hair and makeup for like two hours.” Alex doesn’t mention that Julie seems less high-maintenance than his sisters.   
Julie takes pity on Luke. “Okay, how about this? You can pick me up from school, drive me back here, I’ll change, and then we can go. Don’t worry, I don’t take two hours to get ready. I’m not Carrie.”  
“Whatever you want, babe, just so long as we get our date.”  
After dinner, Ray insists that the guys leave so that Julie can get some homework done. Luke and Julie go up to her room, where Luke strums his guitar mindlessly while Julie reads textbooks and does assignments.  
“Ugh! I hate math,” Julie huffs, throwing down her pencil.  
“You know who’s really, distrubingly good at math?” Luke asks. “Alex. If you ever need help, I’m sure he’d be happy to assist.”  
“Well, this section is done, but I might get him to help me before the test. I was good at algebra last year, but I just don’t get geometry.”  
“At least you were good at a type of math. I’m awful at all of it. What else do you have to do tonight?”  
“At some point before Friday, I have to write out the sheet music for Edge of Great and I have a paper on a famous artist due a week from Wednesday.”  
“Who are you writing about?”  
“Haven’t decided.”  
“If you write about Sunset Curve, I have three great sources for you.” Luke winks.  
“You know, that’s actually not a bad idea. I can start that tomorrow, though.” Julie yawns. “You ready to go to bed?”  
“Yeah, just let me get changed.”  
This time, there is no awkwardness as they climb into bed. Luke gives Julie a gentle goodnight kiss before they fall asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms.


	8. Friday

When Julie’s alarm goes off Friday morning, Luke expects it. It goes off every morning, at the same time, after all. That does not, however, make him more alert. He holds onto Julie, trying to keep her in bed with him.  
“Luke, honey, you gotta let go.” Her attempts at freeing herself manually don’t work; Luke has a hell of a grip. Then inspiration hits. “If you make me stay here, I’ll miss class, and then Papí will ground me and I won’t be able to go on our date.”  
That works like a charm. Luke opens her arms to let Julie out of bed. She takes a quick shower and by the time she makes it downstairs, Luke has gotten up. He’s leaning against the kitchen counter, holding a glass of orange juice and a poptart, which he hands to her. Her backpack is at his feet, packed and ready.  
“Wow, you really don’t want me to get grounded,” Julie remarks.  
“Why would you be getting grounded?” Ray asks from the doorway.  
“I wouldn’t be. Luke was being a little bit codependant this morning. He didn’t want to get up, which meant he didn’t want me to get up, so I told him that if he made me miss class, you wouldn’t let me go on our date tonight.”  
“Mija, I wouldn’t make you miss your first date.”  
“I know that and you know that, but Luke didn’t. Sometimes it takes a little bending of the truth to get this one to cooperate, especially when he’s not fully awake.”  
“You lied to me? Babe, I’m wounded.”  
“It worked, didn’t it? Besides, I have to turn in Edge of Great today. We worked too hard on that for me to get a zero for not turning it in.”  
“Hey, about that. The label’s not thrilled that you’re using future Sunset Curve songs for school.” Luke holds up his hands defensively in the face of Julie’s glare. “I don’t care at all, babe. You wrote them, they’re your songs. All I agreed to was to tell you that. Legally, you don’t have a contract with them yet so they can’t stop you.”  
“Will you get in trouble?” Julie asks. She won’t stop writing songs for Sunset Curve, and she can’t stop writing for school, but it would be a pain to have to write different stuff for both.  
“Nah, we’re too big now. They don’t have nearly as much power over us as they would like. You don’t have to change what you’re doing. If it comes down to it, they might not let us release your songs under their label, but we can always record and release independently. The guys at the label know hits when they see them, so I doubt they’d risk that. They only make money if they produce the songs.”  
“Okay, so I’m good? You just had to say something because they said to? You and the guys are okay if I keep turning in assignments? I promise Mrs. Harrison won’t leak anything. She’s taught some big-name people and has framed and signed assignments from when they were in school in her office, but she only puts them up a year after the song’s been released.”   
“Relax, babe. Keep writing hits. Turn them in when you need to, record them with us when you want to, or don’t. Just keep writing.” Julie nods. “Do you need a ride to school or are Carrie and Flynn getting you?”  
As if planned, Carrie honks her horn from the driveway. “Carrie’s driving me, but I told her you’re picking me up.”  
“Can she actually drive you home? I have a couple last-minute errands before our date.”  
“I’m sure that’d be fine. I gotta go.” Julie leans up to kiss him goodbye, then grabs her backpack and runs out the door. Luke sighs, watching her go.  
“Ray?” He calls out.   
“In the living room!” Ray responds.  
Luke heads over to the living room. “I need some advice. I want to get Julie some flowers before our date. What’s her favorite?”  
“I think she’d like anything except red roses. She says that’s cliche. I don’t know if you’ll be able to find any, but her mother’s favorite flower was the dahlia. If you got her some of those, I think she’d be really happy.”  
“Thanks.” Luke turns to leave, then hesitates. “I, uh, I also got her a present. It’s a leatherbound book for us to write all of our songs in. It’s got a custom imprint in the corner, um, J + L in a heart. Is it, uh, too soon to give that to her?”  
“Luke, if I know my daughter at all, she would be thrilled to recieve that. Mijo, you two are soulmates. There’s no set timeline for that. If it feels right to give her the book, then do it. If you want to write her love songs, do it. If you don’t, then wait until you do. Just listen to your heart, it won’t guide you wrong.”  
“I, uh, I already wrote her a love song.” Luke blushes. “She liked it.”  
“Then I’m sure she’ll like the book, too. Maybe write the lyrics of your love song on the first page to start the book?”  
“That’s a good idea, Ray. Thank you.”  
“Can I ask you a question?”  
“Sure, I guess.” Luke trusts Ray, but... “I retain the right to refuse to answer, though.”  
“Fari enough. I’m happy to offer you advice, but I was wondering, why don’t you ask your parents?” Luke sighs. This is not something he likes talking about, but Ray has been nothing but kind, so he’s willing to try.  
“My parents are- they don’t support my music. I, uh, they wanted me to go to college but I couldn’t do it. Music is my life and I needed Sunset Curve more than a degree. They thought that- well, there’s no guarantee of success. Making it in music is really hard and they didn’t want me to waste my life on a band that ‘would never be a stable career.’ Even when we started getting big, when the label signed us, my parents kept trying to get me to get an education. I easily make what they do annually in a month, but they still think I need a ‘real’ job.”  
“That must be hard. Do you ever talk to them?”  
“Not since I left on our first national tour. There was a big, screaming fight and I left.” Luke looks sad. “I can’t be the perfect son they want, so I figured I wouldn’t be their son at all.”  
“Does Julie know any of this?”  
“No. I don’t know how to tell her.” Luke looks at the time. “I have to go. There’s stuff I have to do before my date with Julie.”  
“Okay, but mijo, if you ever need a dad, well, I know you’re an adult, but I’d be happy to fill in.”  
“Thank you.” Luke wipes at his eyes, before grabbing his keys. Dahlias, he thinks.


	9. Date Night

The moment Julie gets home from school, she starts digging through her closet. Luke said they weren’t going anywhere fancy, so she debates whether ‘not fancy’ means jeans or athletic pants. He also said to dress comfortably for walking, so she decides against her jeans. The outfit with the jeans has shoes that aren’t as good for walking, so she puts on her favorite pair of casual pants instead. She pulls on a black tank top, then throws a mesh tie-dye shirt over it, letting the wide neckline slip off her shoulder. She adds a couple necklaces and a bunch of bracelets, swipes some lip gloss on, and grabs her phone. A selfie is quickly sent to Carrie and Flynn, who respond with approval.  
It’s the that the doorbell rings. Julie didn’t even know that they had a doorbell. No one uses it, so she runs downstairs to see who it could be. Ray beat her to it, opening the door to reveal Luke with a bouquet of dahlias.  
“You didn’t have to ring the doorbell, mijo, you basically live here,” Ray points out.  
“I just wanted to do this right. Is Julie ready?”  
“I’m right here.” Luke hugs Julie with one arm, the other carefully extended to keep the flowers from getting crushed between them. He hands her the flowers.   
Julie smiles. “Dahlias! They were Mom’s favorite.”  
“I know.” Julie looks up at him with an eyebrow raised. She’d never told him that, so how did he know? “I wanted to surprise you with flowers, so I asked your dad what your favorite was. He said you’d like dahlias in honor of your mother.”  
“He was right. Papí, can you put these in some water? We’re going to go. I’m dying to know where Luke’s taking me.”   
Ray obligingly takes the flowers. “Have fun, Mija.”  
“Bye, Papí,” Julie waves as Luke guides her to his car.  
“Do I get to know where you’re taking me now?” Julie asks.  
“Babe, it’s called a surprise for a reason. And I want to tell you now that while the guys helped me arrange things, everything we’re doing tonight was my idea.”  
“Good. I want to date you, not your friends.”   
Julie is surprised when they pull up in front of the Orpheum. “Are we going to see a show?”  
“No, there isn’t a performance until late.” Luke knocks on the side door. A man lets them in, before wandering off to continue prepping for the show. “I wanted to show you the places that mean something to me. The Orpheum is important to me because the band got our big break here. We’d been getting a pretty good following, so we were able to pester the owners into letting us perform. We were discovered by our label that night.”  
“That must have been super exciting.”  
“Yeah, I honestly don’t think I slept for like three days between being amped about the performance and then actually getting signed. I’m pretty sure Reggie sat on me to get me to be still enough to sleep. I was kind of out of it by then though, so I could be wrong.”  
“I obviously wasn’t there, but I can absolutely see Reggie doing that.” They share a laugh.  
“This is what I wanted to show you.” In a small, out of the way corner, a faded sticker bearing the logo for Sunset Curve is still there. Underneath it, scrawled in silver permanent marker, are the band members’ names. He pulls out a marker. “I talked to the guys. They said it was okay with them, so if you’re cool with it, I wanted to add you to our little mark on the place that made us famous.”  
Julie’s eyes well with tears. “Thank you.”  
She watches as he scribbles ‘Julie Molina’ underneath his name. “You’re a part of us now, babe.”  
Julie flings herself into his arms. He holds her close for a moment, before asking if she’s ready for the rest of the date.  
She wipes her eyes. “Yeah, but I don’t know how you’re topping this.”  
Luke leads her out of the building, nodding at the guy that had let them in. “Our next stop is dinner,” he says.   
They climb back into the car and Luke drives them to a deserted beach. He grabs a picnic basket and blanket from the backseat and comes around to take Julie’s hand.   
Spreading out the blanket, they sit down. Luke opens the basket and pulls out sub sandwiches, chips, and cans of soda.. “Alex said I should bring champagne but I reminded him that you’re not old enough to drink it. I figured soda’s technically still a sparkling beverage. I mean, it is carbonated.”  
Julie laughs at that. She unwraps the sub Luke hands her, and smiles. “How’d you know what my favorite sandwich was?”  
“Your brother is a great source of information on you. He really cares about you.”  
“Carlos is a good brother.” Julie takes a bite of her sandwich. They sit there enjoying their food. When Julie finishes her sub, she asks Luke the question he’d been waiting for. “Why is this beach important to you?”  
“Alex and Reggie lived in houses right where that little strip of stores is. I can’t count the number of times we ‘camped’ on this beach or played in the water. If we weren’t in a garage or studio somewhere rehearsing, we were here.”  
“Where do their parents live now?”  
“We, uh, we’re not sure. Their parents were... not good to them so they ran away as soon as I turned eighteen.” He smiles sadly. “The thing is that none of us had good home lives, so we became our own family. As soon as I was old enough to sign a lease, I did. We all pooled every penny we had to keep a roof over our heads and do anything we could to make it big. It paid off in the end, but we... we’re the only family we have. I know the guys always have my back and I have theirs.”  
“Well, the three of you are now part of my family. I know I’m only sixteen and I don’t have any money or fame or anything, but I’m here for you if you need me. You’re all unofficial Molinas, whether you like it or not.” Luke is not ashamed to admit that his eyes teared up at that. How did he get so lucky?  
It’s then that Julie’s phone rings. It’s Nick. “You want to hear Nick freak out about his blind date being Reggie?” She asks, lightening the mood.  
“Absolutely.”  
Julie answers the call, putting it on speaker. “You’re on speaker, Nick. Luke’s here.”  
“Never mind about that, Julie! Is my blind date seriously Reggie Peters?”  
“You’re welcome,” Julie says drily.  
“Oh my god, Julie, thank you so so so much! I can’t believe you did this for me! He’s so cute and talented and just amazing! I owe you big time.”   
Nick’s babbling stops when something occurs to Julie and she interrupts him. “Nick, where are you?”  
“The bathroom?”  
“Why are you hiding in the bathroom on the phone with me when you could be out there on a date with your celebrity crush?” Nick hangs up.  
“Guess he realized you had a good point,” Luke says, chuckling. His phone buzzes. “It’s Reggie. Says ‘tell Julie that her friend is super cute and thank her for setting us up.’” He grins at her. “You’re quite the matchmaker, aren’t you?”  
“Apparently. Who should I go after next? Carrie? Flynn? Carrie and Flynn?”  
“What do you mean ‘and?’”  
“I thought I told you, maybe I didn’t. I’m pretty sure that they like each other.”  
“They’re friends, I’d hope they like each other.”  
Julie shakes her head despairingly. “Luke, honey, I don’t mean like friends. I think- look at it this way: we’re friends, right?” He nods, confused. “Would you want to be more?”  
Luke scratches the back of his neck, face flushing a little bit. “Y-yeah, um, I-”  
“We can talk about that later, but do you understand how friends can like each other AND want to be more?”  
“So you’re saying that Carrie and Flynn are- are soulmates?”  
“Maybe. Or maybe not. What I do think is that they need to get their acts together and go on a date before they explode from bottling up their feelings.”  
“Oh, okay. Um. Can we talk about us, now?” Luke asks hopefully. Julie nods. “I really like you, Jules. You’re just incredible and I’d be honored if you’d be my girlfriend. Will you?”  
“Luke, you’re my soulmate. Even when you’re a disaster, I still like you. Of course, I’ll be your girlfriend.”  
Luke smiles at her. There’s something in his eyes that tells her he’s relieved.


	10. Finally Free

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things heat up here. It gets a bit more adult, so be warned.

The morning after their first date, Julie wakes up with a smile on her face. Because it’s a Saturday, she was able to sleep in. She’s thrilled to see that despite it being after nine in the morning, Luke is still asleep. That means that she gets to just lay there, curled up in his arms, and think about their wonderful first date.   
Luke is a disaster a lot of the time. He’ll say something stupid or do something without thinking it through, but his intentions are always good. The thought he put into their date the night before is even more touching considering that Julie knows that Luke is a doer, not a planner. She still doesn’t know when he’d have been able to ask Carlos about her sandwich preferences, but considering that Carlos doesn’t have a cell phone, it couldn’t have been too last minute.  
Julie traces the lines of his face with a fingertip. She ghosts a finger over his lips and gasps when he opens his mouth to bite it. “You’re awake!” She squeaks.  
Luke laughs. “How am I supposed to sleep with you touching my face?”  
Julie blushes. “Sorry!”  
“No, it felt good. I like it when you touch me.”  
“Then I bet you’ll really like this.” Julie doesn’t know where she gets the courage from. Maybe it’s from the date, or Luke finally asking her to be his girlfriend. It doesnt matter, though, because she kisses him and then he’s kissing her back and it’s more intense than their other kisses and she can’t breathe and the feelings are overwhelming and then he breaks away with a groan.  
He lays back, throwing his arm over his eyes, chest heaving. Julie gets nervous, then. Was that not okay? Did she push him too far? Was she a bad kisser?  
“Luke-”  
“Julie, don’t you dare apologize. I just need a minute. And possibly a cold shower.” Oh. Not a bad kisser, then. She feels a strange sense of pride at being able to make him feel that good.  
Something occurs to Julie then. “Wait, why is that affecting you so much? Like, haven’t you done that before?”  
“I’ve never been in a relationship, Jules. Aside from kissing Alex, and that was just to help him figure stuff out, you were my first kiss.”  
“Wait, seriously? But you’re-” Famous. A rockstar. An actual adult. All of these options and more come to mind. Why hasn’t he been with anyone?  
“I’m twenty-three, I know. Most people start dating somewhere between nineteen and twenty if they haven’t found their soulmate yet, right? And it’s not like I haven’t had opportunities. I am famous. It’s just- I knew you were out there and it- it felt wrong thinking about being with someone else. Like I’d be cheating on you, even though we hadn’t met.”  
“Luke, that is the sweetest- I- thank you.”  
“What about you? Any past relationships?” Luke is still uncomfortably aroused so he picks a subject he knows will cool the fire in his veins. Except-  
“No, I- I was waiting for you, too.” He groans. That didn’t help at all. “Luke? Are you okay?”  
“Yeah, um, this isn’t working. I need you to go somewhere else. Having you here is- I just want to grab you and kiss you and that’s a really bad idea, so go- just, anywhere. Please.” His voice is strained and he sounds kind of desperate.  
Julie smiles, pleased with herself, but gets up anyway. She likes that Luke wants her. It makes her feel beautiful and powerful, but she does admit, if only to herself, that she isn’t ready to go further than they just did. She grabs some clothes and heads into the bathroom to get dressed. She wanders downstairs where Carlos is eating a bowl of cereal.  
“Hey, Julie. Where’s your boyfriend?” Julie blushes as she tries to figure out how to answer that. Carlos is ten. He does not need to know that she left her boyfriend upstairs trying to calm down his arousal.  
“He’ll be down soon,” she says eventually. “When he comes in, can you tell him I’m in the studio?”  
“Sure. Can I come and listen to you guys play later?” Carlos asks hopefully.  
“Maybe. We might just be writing, though. You probably won’t get much of a show.” Julie grabs her customary poptart and a water bottle. She fills it with ice, adds water, and screws on the lid. “I’ll let you know if the guys come over to run through anything with us.”  
“Sounds good!” Julie waves goodbye and goes to the studio.  
She sits down at the piano, a few notes and a lyric in her head. She wants to write a song for Luke. He needs to know how grateful she is for him. “You’re a part of me.” She sings under her breath.   
The song should start with singular pronouns, ‘I’ instead of ‘we.’ She knows she had Carrie, Flynn, and Nick, but it’s different with Luke. He’s her person. The singular pronouns are Julie without her mom, a part of her missing.  
‘Don't know if I'll make 'cause I'm falling under. Close my eyes and feel my chest beating like thunder...’  
Then later, she thinks, plural pronouns are more fitting. The hole in her life is still there, but it’s patched. It’s not the same as it was, Luke isn’t a replacement for her mom, but her life is still full. ‘We know we can make it. We're not falling down under. Close my eyes and feel my chest beating like thunder...’  
Her pen is flying over her paper and slowly, a song takes shape. She’s surprised, when she looks up, to find not only Luke in the studio but also Alex and Reggie. Her hand flies to her chest.   
“You scared me! When did you guys get here?”  
“I’ve been in here about an hour. The guys only showed up about fifteen minutes ago. I saw you deep in new-song mode and called the guys in case you wanted to show it to us. Ray said it was okay for them to come over,” Luke replies, chuckling a little. She notes that his hair is still slightly damp. He must have needed that cold shower.  
“It’s been an hour?” Julie is shocked. She must really have been in the zone.  
“Julie, can we talk now? Luke said we had to be quiet so we didn’t disturb you.” Reggie interrupts, practically bouncing.  
“Yes, Reggie, you can talk. What did you want to say?”  
“Thanks for setting me and Nick up! He’s adorable.”  
“I’m glad you had fun! Are you going out again?”  
“Yeah, next weekend. He wants to go out one more time before his birthday, you know, in case he finds his soulmate.” Reggie seems kind of down about that. Does... does he want to be Nick’s soulmate?  
“Reg, you know it could be you, right?” Reggie looks up, confused.  
“What could be me?”  
“You just seemed sad about Nick finding his soulmate. You know it could be you? Unless there’s something no one’s told me? Did something happen?”  
“No, I just... I don’t know if I want a soulmate. My parents were soulmates and they were a mess. Always fighting, at least one of them was drunk at any given time. It’s made me kind of disillusioned about the whole thing.”  
“I get that. When my mom died, I didn’t know if I wanted a soulmate, either.” Luke looks like he wants to say something but Julie holds up a hand. “Like, don’t get me wrong, I like Luke and I’m happy to have him, but at the same time, my dad was devastated when mom died. Watching him fall apart was almost as hard as losing my mom. I wasn’t sure I wanted to open myself up to that. I’m glad I let Luke in, though.”  
Luke sighs in relief. “Good.”  
Julie rolls her eyes and continues talking to Reggie. “The thing is, Reggie, that my parents were soulmates, yes, but I believe that even if they weren’t, if soulmates weren’t a thing, they would still have chosen each other. Do you think that about your parents?”  
“No.” He looks lost. Julie’s heart goes out to him.  
“Look at it this way: a band could have a great sound and a ton of potential, but if the members don’t choose to work together to overcome obstacles and get gigs, then they won’t ever be great. Being soulmates is like that. It means that you could be great together, but you still have to put in the work to build a relationship. It’s just a good foundation, like having a good sound. Does that help any?”  
“Yeah. Thanks, Julie.”  
“Anytime. And for the record, I think you and Nick would be a great couple.”  
Alex raises his hand. “Now that Reggie’s crisis is over, can we hear your song?”  
Julie looks at him, startled. “Oh, the one I was working on when you guys came in?”  
“Yep, that’d be the one.”  
“Um, sure. It’s mostly for Luke, though.”  
“Oh, god, are you going to be one of those couples that only write cheesy love songs for each other?” Reggie looks disgusted. “Please keep writing hits.”  
“Relax, Reg. It’s not a love song. It’s more... a thank you.” Now Luke looks confused.  
“A thank you for what?”  
“For giving me back music. Here, your parts are underlined.” Julie starts playing softly. The song builds in intensity, Reggie and Alex joining in on their instruments.  
When the song is over, Reggie grins. “Definitely not a cheesy love song. Luke, keep doing things that inspire Julie to write songs like this.”  
“That song... Wow. But for the record, though, Jules, I didn’t give you back music. You took my encouragement and dove right in.” Luke seems serious. “I want you to know that the music was always inside of you, you just needed to let it out.”


	11. Introspection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one, so I figured I'd post it with the previous chapter.

In all the years Luke had spent waiting for Julie, he hadn’t quite realized just how much he would like waking up in her arms every morning. Now, though, exactly a week from the day he’d first done it, his legs tangled up with hers, her head pillowed on his chest, he finally understood just how special this was. Maybe, he thinks, this is why the universe tells us who we’re meant to be with by having us wake up together, so that we can do it every day for the rest of our lives. Even with her annoying alarm going off at a godforsaken, ridiculously early hour of the morning, he wouldn’t ever want to wake up without his Julie.  
Waking up in holding her is one of his favorite parts of having a soulmate. His absolute favorite part, though, is Julie herself. When he would dream about what his soulmate would be like, he’d hoped for someone who loved music like he did (it was possible that Julie loved music more than he did), and someone who would like the guys and who the guys would like. Alex and Reggie had basically declared Julie their sister, despite Alex having three of his own.  
The thing for Alex was that, yes, he had sisters, but that morning six years ago when he woke up in his bed with Willie next to him, his parents screaming about how he was going to hell, his sisters had not sided with him. They hadn’t sided with his parents, either, but Alex had needed their support and he didn’t have it. Julie’s biggest concern was not that Willie was a guy, but rather she just wanted to make sure that Willie treated him right. Alex hadn’t shown it, but that had meant the world to him.  
For Reggie, Julie was a girl who was finding happiness with her own soulmate and wanted to find that happiness for him, too. Yes, Julie had mentioned setting Reggie and Nick up that first morning, which meant it was partially for Nick, but Luke knew that the reason she hadn’t asked him to go out with her friend right away was that Julie wanted to get to know Reggie a bit so that she could make sure that Reggie would like Nick, too. And when Julie saw that Reggie was conflicted about soulmates, she had pointed out, as Luke had tried to explain and Alex and Willie had tried to demonstrate, that Reggie’s parents were the exception, not the rule. Julie had put soulmates into terms that Reggie could understand and had gotten through to him where Luke himself had failed.   
Julie, Luke decides, is perfect. She is his soulmate, yes, which means that she fits with him, but she fits with the band, too. His family. He resolves to write her another song because even after lying in bed thinking about all this, he doesn’t have the words to tell her what she means to them.  
“You’re incredible,” he whispers. Julie stirs against his side, then settles. He grabs his phone from the bedside table and sends a text to the guys. ‘Meet me in the studio (not Julie’s) tomorrow after she goes to school. We have a song to write.’ Alex responds with a thumbs up emoji and Reggie responds with four hearts, one for each member of the band.


	12. Guy Talk

On Monday, Luke pouts when Julie has to leave for school. “I’ll miss you,” he says. His goodbye kiss makes her want to ditch school and spend all day in his arms.   
Carrie and Flynn laugh at the absent look in their friend’s eyes when she gets into the car. None of them notice Luke’s car pulling out of the driveway as they round the corner.  
“How much do you want to bet that our little Julie is daydreaming about her boyfriend?” Flynn asks.  
“Only a fool would take that bet. Look at her! I mean, she keeps touching her lips, for crying out loud.”   
They’re halfway to school when Julie comes back to herself. “Oh, look, Carrie, Julie’s back in the present,” Flynn teases. “What were you thinking about?”  
“He’s a really good kisser,” Julie blurts out. She claps her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. Carrie has to pull over, she’s laughing so hard.  
“Yeah? How do you know that, missy?” Flynn’s trying to act stern but the laughter in her voice ruins the effect.  
“I wrote a new song!” Julie tries desperately to change the subject.  
“Later, Jules. We gotta hear about you making out with Luke.”  
“Do I have a choice?” Julie looks between her two friends, hoping someone will give in and let her die of embarrassment. They shake their heads, so she sighs. “I woke up first on Saturday, so I just kind of ran my fingers over his face. He woke up and said something about not being able to sleep when I’m touching him like that. He said it felt good, though, so I- I kissed him.”  
“Wait, you kissed him?” Carrie gasps.  
“Yeah, but he’d kissed me before, so it wasn’t- I didn’t make the first move. Anyway, it was super intense and then made a joke about needing a cold shower. We laid there for a bit but then he made me leave because it was too much and he coudn’t calm down with me next to him.”  
“You turned him on that much?”  
“His hair was still wet when he met me in the studio.”  
“You go, girl!” Flynn high fives Julie. She turns to Carrie. “And you, go. We’re going to be late for class.”   
Carrie laughs, but obliges. They rush into their first class, still gossiping about Luke.  
“So, has Sunset Curve ditched you yet?” Kayla asks snarkily as they settle into their seats.  
Julie doesn’t answer her directly, but asks her friends, “Oh, hey, did you guys see Luke’s post on Insta yesterday?”  
“The happy one-week anniversary post?” Carrie clarifies, knowing that that’s exactly what Julie’s talking about. They’d gushed about it on the phone when it first went up, but she’s happy to play along to help her friend.  
“Yeah, wasn’t that sweet?”  
“I love that he used the photo you guys sent us on your birthday. He’s looking at you like he can’t believe you’re real. It’s adorable.” Flynn gushes.  
“I’ll bet he just can’t believe he’s stuck with her,” Kayla scoffs.   
Carrie pulls up the photo on her phone and shows it to Kayla. “Look at this picture and tell me honestly: does he look anything but thrilled?”  
Kayla looks away. She could tell the day Luke came to sing with Julie that he likes his soulmate very much, and in that picture, he’s looking at her like she’s his world. If that photo was really taken their first morning together, then she knows she’s lost before she could even start. After all, everyone loves Julie. Kayla would never admit it, but she knows that Julie is sweet and funny and incredibly talented. It drives Kayla crazy that, on top of everything Julie already has going for her, she’s somehow managed to get Luke Patterson as her soulmate. Kayla has had a crush on Luke since Sunset Curve first started to make it big, and now he’s taken.  
“Whatever. He’s probably just desperate. He’s twenty-three, so he’s probably just glad he has anyone.”  
Before anyone can respond to that, class starts. The music program at Los Feliz High School is a cohort. They have all their classes together and all of the music related ones are in the same room, taught by Mrs. Harrison. Even their non-music classes incorporate music whenever possible, like Julie’s upcoming paper about Sunset Curve for her English class. As a result, sometimes Mrs. Harrison will switch around the classes over the course of the day. Live Performance is technically scheduled for first thing in the morning, but on presentation day, she shuffles it to the last period so that people can go home when the last one is over. Thus, Live Performance is what they start with today.  
Mrs. Harrison goes around the room handing out slips of paper. “I have your grades for last week’s performances. Excellent job, overall. I’m glad to see some major improvement for a lot of you. Julie, if you bring Sunset Curve in for another assignment, please try to give me a little bit more notice so I can book the auditorium. You guys seemed a little cramped in here.” Mrs. Harrison hands Julie her feedback sheet.  
“In my defense, Mrs. Harrison, I didn’t have advance notice to give you. I literally met them the day before.”  
“I’m not mad, Julie. I know you gave me as much notice as you could. Just keep that in mind for the future.” She leans in and adds, “It was great to see you so engaged in your music again. Is Bright going to be on their next album?”  
“I’m afraid I can’t disclose the song list for our next album. You’ll just have to see what we do along with everyone else.”  
“Good answer! Class, never tell your plans to anyone who might leak them. I’m not oging to tell anyone anything, but you can never be too careful.”  
Kayla is fuming. Julie’s getting even more special treatment now? She hasn’t played in six months and now she’s the star student? Kayla has been working her tail off trying to stay on top and it’s not fair that Julie gets things so easily.  
“Now, then,” Mrs. Harrison continues. “Remember that the Fall Showcase is in two weeks: Friday, the 9th. This one is required to be an original song. You can use your composition from last week if you want, but be ready.” Mrs. Harrison continues on to outline things that the class as a whole could improve on and the requirements for the showcase. They then break out into their individual acts. Some people go to the indivual practice rooms either to rehearse or just for a quiet space to write.  
Nick comes up to Julie in the hall on the way to their assigned practice rooms, eager to talk about his crush. “Hey, Julie, I just wanted to thank you again for setting me up with Reggie. I had so much fun! Did- did Reggie say anything about me?”  
Julie grins at him. “As a matter of fact, he did. He had a great time, too. He says you’re, and I quote, ‘adorable.’”  
Nick blushes. “He really said that?”  
“Yes, okay, Nick? If anyone asks, I didn’t tell you this, but I had to talk him down when he was freaking out about you finding your soulmate next week. He’s worried it won’t be him. He’s also kind of worried it will be him, but that’s another issue entirely and has nothing to do with you.” Julie shakes her head. “He’s smitten, Nick.”  
“Really?”   
“Nick. Have I ever lied to you?”  
“You’ve certainly misled me. I had no idea my date was going to be Reggie!”  
Julie laughs. “But have I ever actually outright lied to you?” She clarifies.  
“No,” Nick has to concede.  
“Exactly. He really likes you. I know it’s a little bit indimidating at first that they’re so famous, but they’re just people. Alex is sarcastic and anxious, Luke is like a puppy, and Reggie’s just a goofball. You can’t let their fame or their money intimidate you. They love making music, just like you. They just happen to have made it their jobs.” Julie remembers how overwhelmed she was meeting the other guys. She imagines she would even have been intimidated by Luke at first if she hadn’t woken up in his arms.  
Nick takes a deep breath. “Okay, you’re right. Reggie was a goofball. He’s so sweet and funny...”  
“Exactly. He’s just a guy. A great guy, but just a guy.”


	13. My Wish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I ran out of JATP songs that aren't Caleb's or Dirty Candy's, and I suck at writing lyrics, so... Gonna use other songs. The song in this chapter is My Wish by Rascal Flatts.

When Julie leaves the building at the end of the school day, Luke is leaning against a lamp post, waiting for her. He straightens up when he sees her and waves her down.  
“Julie! Can you come with me? The guys and I have a new song for you.”  
Julie looks behind her where Carrie, Flynn and Nick are waiting. They’d been planning to hang out at her house. They signal to her to go, but Julie feels bad. She wants the two halves of her life to meet properly and she feels like she’s been neglecting her school friends. She doesn’t ever want to be that girl who meets a boy and abandons her friends for him.  
“Can my friends come? I want to introduce them to the guys. They were going to come over, but...”  
“Oh, yeah, sure, but, um, I don’t have enough seats in my car.”  
“That’s okay. Carrie has her car, too. Guys!” Julie waves her friends over. “Hey, so Luke has a new song for me, but I absolutely want to hang out with you, so you’re all invited to- Hey, Luke, where are we going?”  
“Sunset Curve’s studio.”  
“-Sunset Curve’s studio, to meet the guys and hear the song. You in?”  
Carrie, excited, decides that she will drive Nick and Flynn and meet Julie and Luke in the lobby of the building the studio is in.  
When they arrive in the studio, Alex and Reggie are chilling on the couch. Reggie jumps up, though, when he sees Nick. “Nick! You’re here!”  
“Hi, Reggie,” Nick replies shyly.   
“Oh, so this is the famous Nick that Reggie won’t shut up about?” Alex asks, grinning.  
“Alex!” Reggie scolds, but he isn’t actually mad because Nick relaxes in response.  
“So, Alex, this is Nick, obviously. And guys, these are my girls, Flynn and Carrie.” They wave as Julie says their names. “We were going to hang out today but then Luke said you had a song for me so I invited them along.”  
“Right, the song. I’m going to warn you, Reggie got his country song with this one. It’s a little... different from what we normally do,” Alex warns the group. “There’s no drums in this, and Reggie is on the keyboard. I sing with Luke.”  
“Well, now you’ve got me curious,” Julie says.  
“This is from all of us for you, Julie.” Luke says as he and Reggie start playing. Then Luke is singing softly, sweetly. When he gets to the chorus, Julie tears up. “My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to. Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small. You never need to carry more than you can hold and while you're out there getting where you're getting to. I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too. Yeah, this is my wish...”  
When the song finishes, she throws herself at Alex, hugging him close. Reggie gets up from the keyboard and joins the hug. Luke sets down his guitar and wraps his arms around all of them.  
“Jules, we wanted you to know that you’re important to us and that we love you and support you. You’re Luke’s soulmate, but you’re our soul sister,” Reggie says. “You can do anything with your heartstopping voice and incredible lyrics. Dream big and we’ll always be there to back you up.”  
“That’s good to hear,” Carrie says. They all jump, the group hug falling apart. None of them had remembered that the teenagers were there.  
“Why?” Reggie asks.  
“Because Julie needs you to back her up during the Spring Showcase. It’s in two weeks and Kayla’s being a pain about how you guys are going to drop Julie, so you guys need to show up and play your hearts out!” Flynn’s voice rises in volume as she speaks, getting visibly agitated. “I mean, she’s dumb as rocks, but she does have a famous dad, so we don’t want her spreading rumors.”  
“Is Kayla the girl that was being mean to Julie when we came to play Bright last week?” Alex asks. Flynn nods. “Then we’ll be there with our A game.”  
“Are you going to ask Julie the other thing?” Luke reminds the other guys.  
“Oh, yeah! Julie, so when Reggie said you were our soul sister, he left something out. We want to unofficially officially be your brothers,” Alex says.  
“What does that mean?” Julie asks.  
“It means that we’d basically be your big brothers, but not legally because your dad probably doesn’t want to adopt us. It’d be our job to chase off guys and cheer you up when you’re sad and take you out for ice cream and-”  
“You guys are so sweet. Of course, you can be my unofficial official brothers.” Alex and Reggie whoop in excitement.  
“Speaking of how you’re part of our found family, Jules, the label wants us to record something with you to post when we announce that you’re joining the band. What do you want to sing?” Luke hopes she’ll choose something she wrote. He wants the whole world to know how talented his soulmate is.  
“Edge of Great. You guys keep saying that I’ll make you great, so it seems fitting.” Julie decides. “When are we doing this?”  
“We’ve got the recording booth now, if you have time.” Luke can’t wait to get his soulmate’s name out there and this is her big opportunity.  
“Now? Um, okay. You guys want to stay for this?” Julie asks her friends.  
They look at her like she’s grown a second head.  
“Duh,” Carrie says. “You guys are insanely talented, of course we want to watch you play.”  
“And besides,” Flynn adds, “When else are we going to get to watch a famous band record a song?”  
“When you’re part of one?” Julie asks. Flynn just rolls her eyes. “Okay, so where is this recording booth?”  
Luke leads the whole group up a flight of stairs. He holds open a door, which lets them into the tech’s space. Through a soundproof wall with a big window, the actual recording room has some drums are set up along with two microphones hanging from the ceiling. There are several more on stands around the space, a guitar and bass in the corner.  
“This is so cool!” Nick says excitedly.  
“Jules, this is Jimmy, our booth guy. He records all of the audio and runs the control panels. Jimmy, this is Julie, our new lead singer.”   
They shake hands, then Jimmy asks, “So is it true that you’re Luke’s soulmate?”  
Luke scowls. “Yes, but that’s not why she’s here.”  
Jimmy puts his hands up in defense. “No, man, I know, I know. I just wanted to offer her my condolences for having to put up with you for the rest of her life.”  
“Ha, ha, very funny,” Luke says drily. “Can we get started?”  
“You explain to your girl how this all works?” Jimmy asks. Luke shakes his head. “Then no, we can’t. She has to know what to do before she can do it.” He shakes his head in mock dismay. “Girl, I don’t know how you put up with this one.”  
“He’s a disaster, but he’s my disaster.” Julie tucks herself under Luke’s arm. “So what do I need to know?”  
“So, that room over there is soundproof. You put on those headphones,” he points, “and you sing into that microphone. We’re gonna try it just with you and Luke singing first, just to let you get a feel for it, then with the whole band. We’re gonna do a bunch of takes and record chunks of the song and then my guys piece together a full song and a video.”  
“Okay, let’s get started,” Luke says, holding the soundproof door open for Julie. He follows her in. They situate themselves in front of the hanging mikes and put on their headphones.  
“You guys hear me okay?” Jimmy asks.  
“Yeah,” Luke and Julie confirm.  
“Okay, let’s start from the top. And... go.”  
“Running from the past, tripping on the now...” Luke is watching Julie but out of the corner of his eye, he sees Jimmy’s jaw drop. Julie’s voice hits like a wrecking ball even when she’s just goofing off. Here, in a recording booth, where the acoustics are great and she’s giving it her all, it’s almost transcendental. Luke comes in as he’s supposed to, but really, he’s just letting Julie shine.   
Their eyes meet and Luke finds himself standing in front of Julie’s microphone with her. “Running from the past, tripping on the now. What is lost can be found, it’s obvious.” The song closes with them inches apart, eyes locked on each other’s lips.  
“Guys!” Jimmy‘s voice startles them from where Luke was leaning in to kiss Julie. “That was great, but please don’t start making out in my recording booth.”  
Julie blushes and Luke’s hand goes to the back of his neck, signifying that he, too, is embarrassed.   
“Sorry, Jimmy, but have you seen her?” Luke asks. Julie’s blush darkens.  
“I can see her right now. You two have hella chemistry, I can tell you that much right now. What do you say we get the other guys in there and finish this thing? Your vocals are good. I just need your guitar and Julie’s keyboard from you two and then you can go be all kissy somewhere else.”  
They quickly wrap up the recording, and having Alex and Reggie in the booth seems to keep the soulmates from getting too into each other.


	14. Chapter 14

Luke’s phone buzzes shortly after Julie’s alarm wakes him up. No one texts him this early, so it must be important, especially because Julie’s phone is rattling on the nightstand where she’d left it on vibrate the night before. Julie had stepped into the bathroom to brush her teeth only a minute ago, but when Luke looks at the text on his phone, he knows he has to go tell her the news. He grabs her phone, too, aware that she’ll want to check it as soon as she hears what he has to say.  
“Julie!” He says, knocking on the bathroom door. “You’ve got to see this!”  
She opens the door, toothbrush still in her mouth. She takes it out, spits into the sink, and rinses. Finally addressing him, she asks, “What do I have to see? Did someone die?”  
“It’s Reggie! He’s texting me from Nick’s house.” Julie’s jaw drops.  
“Oh, my god. Are you serious? Where’s my phone?” Luke hands it to her and she reads the separate texts from Nick and Reggie. They’re both freaking out over how excited they are to have each other as soulmates. “Oh, I totally called this! I knew they’d be perfect together!”  
Ray exits his room. “Mija, is everything okay? You’re being very loud for so early. Did someone die?”  
“It’s Nick!” Ray looks horrified. “No, Papí, he’s okay. He and Reggie are soulmates!”  
“Oh, tell them congratulations for me!” Ray says. “Now, is there anything else I should know or can I go get some coffee?”  
“One more thing, Ray. Reggie wants to know if Julie and I will move into the band’s house. Apparently Nick’s dads say that Nick can move in with Reggie if she’s there, too. I know you said you wanted Julie to stay here, so... I should tell him no, right?” Luke misses living with the guys. He feels like he doesn’t see them nearly as much now that he’s living at the Molinas’ and he isn’t thrilled about that, but for Julie, he’s coping.  
“Well, hold on, Luke. I said that the first morning you were here. You were a stranger. All I knew about you was that you’re a rockstar with a history of who knows what that I didn’t want dragging my baby girl into trouble. I’ve gotten to know you since then, mijo. You’re a good man and if you and Julie want to move back into your place, then I’m not going to stop you.” Ray smiles at them. “Don’t worry about me and Carlos. We just want you to be happy.”  
Julie hugs her dad, thanking him. “Maybe we’ll split our time between the houses?” She suggests. “Living with the band and Nick and Willie will be kind of chaotic, so maybe we’ll come here if we need a quiet night?”  
“Sounds like a plan, Mija. And you’re always welcome to drop by whenever. Use the studio, too, if you want.” He looks at his watch. “You gotta go get ready for school. You’re going to be late if you don’t hurry.”  
Realizing he’s right, Julie throws on some clothes and grabs a poptart to-go, making it outside just as Carrie’s car pulls up.  
The first thing she says upon throwing open the back passenger door is “Did you hear about Nick?”  
Apparently, Julie was the only one who had received a text and the other girls were not happy about it.  
“Did Nick wake up alone?” Carrie asks, hoping that that’s not the case. It sucks, she knows from experience, to wake up on your birthday alone.  
“No, he woke up with Reggie!”   
Flynn squeals at the news. “I was hoping he would. They were so cute when we saw them together at the studio.”  
“Yeah, and more news. Mr. and Mr. Danforth-Evans said that Nick could move in with Reggie if Luke and I moved back in, too, because they trust me to keep their son alive. You know Nick would be a disaster moving out right now. He can’t cook! Anyway, Luke and I talked to my dad and he says we can move in.”  
“Wait, so you’re going to be stuck living with four boys and no girls?” Carrie does not seem to like that idea. “That house is going to be a mess!”  
“First, there’s five guys. You’re forgetting about Willie. Alex’s soulmate? Second, one of those guys is Luke. I can totally convince him to help keep the place in good shape. And third, Luke has incredibly good puppy dog eyes. He can convince the others to do just about anything, and I can convince Luke to do what I want, so therefore I control the puppy dog eyes. It’ll be fun, I promise.” They arrive at school then and walk inside.  
“Ten bucks says she doesn’t last a week.” Carrie says to Flynn.  
“Five days. One for each guy to piss her off.” Flynn counters. They shake hands on it.  
When they get to Julie’s locker, Nick is waiting, drumming his fingers against the door. “Julie! Finally! Did you see my text?” Julie hasn’t seen Nick this amped up in... maybe ever, now that she thinks about it.  
“Yes, I’m so happy for you, Nick! I totally called it.”  
“I’m so happy, Jules. Did Reggie text Luke?”  
“About us moving into the house with you guys?” Julie clarifies. Nick nods. “Yeah. We talked to my dad and he says it’s okay if we move in. Luke and I were thinking we would make the weekend a giant move-in extravaganza. Spend tonight packing our rooms, Saturday moving our stuff in and unpacking and Sunday we’d have a housewarming party? Just friends, low key. I know Reggie already lives there and Luke did until a few weeks ago, but it’s a new house to us.”  
“Sounds good! I gotta get to class, but I’ll text you.” Nick practically floats off to class, clearly thrilled to have a soulmate.  
“Was I that crazy when I first met Luke?” Julie asks Carrie and Flynn.  
They look at each other and laugh. “Honey, you and Luke were crazier. You went from meeting him to joining the band in a matter of hours and now you two are basically joined at the hip.” Flynn rolls her eyes. “You guys are disgustingly cute.”  
“Am I really that bad? Have I been ignoring you guys? I’m sorry if I’ve been a bad friend, I just-”  
“He’s your soulmate, we know. We just only really see you at school now, Jules, and now with you moving into his house, he’ll probably be driving you here or Nick will. We just worry that with the band and everything you won’t need us anymore.” Carrie’s uncharacteristic vulnerability makes Julie feel guilty.  
“I’m sorry! I love you guys, I hope you know that.”  
“We know, and we love that you’re so happy. I think we’re a little bit jealous. You have Luke and now Nick has Reggie and we’re just... single.”  
“You know, I always thought that the two of you would make a cute couple,” Julie muses. Her friends look at her like she’s crazy. “What? If you’re both sad about being single, date each other! You know you like each other, you’ve been best friends practically since diapers. It’s always been the three of us and Nick against the world, but things are changing and your relationship might want to change, too. Just think about it.”  
“I’m in if you’re in,” Carrie says finally.  
“Sure. One date, just to see how it goes,” Flynn decides.  
“Who knows, maybe I have a gift for matching soulmates before they know. It worked with Nick and Reggie, maybe you two are next!” With that, Julie skips off to class. When Flynn and Carrie arrive just before the bell, they’re holding hands. Julie grins at the sight. She knew it, it’s so obvious that they like each other.  
“Shut it,” Carrie warns as Julie opens her mouth to comment.  
“Not a word out of you,” Flynn agrees.


	15. I Love You

Julie hadn’t realized just how much stuff she owns. Moving really brings that into perspective, she decides as she deposits the sixth box of clothes on the floor of Luke’s- their- room.  
Luke passes her in the hallway as he carries a box full of all her song books into their room. “You’re lucky I love you,” he huffs. “I wouldn’t do this for just anyone.”  
They both make it a couple steps further before they realize what, exactly, Luke has just said. Luke’s face scrunches up as he squeezes his eyes shut in dismay. He hadn’t wanted to tell her like that.  
“I-” Luke starts.  
“Did you mean-” Julie stops. Luke knows what she’s asking. Did he mean it or was it just an expression? He sets down the box and turns to face her.  
“I didn’t want to tell you like this,” he says. “I had it all planned out- I was going to take you out for a nice dinner and-”  
Julie interrupts his rambling to confirm it. “You love me?”  
“I do. I’m sorry, I know it’s soon and you probably don’t feel the same way yet or maybe at all but I just-”  
“Luke.”  
“Yeah?”  
“I love you, too.” And then his arms are around her and his lips are on hers and he’s pressing her against the wall and she feels like laughing and crying all at the same time and-  
“That doesn’t look like unpacking,” Reggie says, wiggling his eyebrows.  
Luke pulls back slightly. He looks her in the eyes and smiles. He buffs one last kiss against her lips before releasing her. She looks past her soulmate and is slightly embarrassed to see the other four residents of the house staring at them.  
“You see if you feel like unpacking after your soulmate tells you he loves you,” Julie retorts. Four jaws drop.  
“You told her?” Alex seems surprised. “I thought you were going to-”  
“Take her out for a nice dinner, yeah. I’m just... not that smooth,” Luke admits ruefully. “It just slipped out.”  
“What exactly did he say?” Luke tries to respond to Nick’s question, but Reggie stops him.  
“Not you, I’m asking Julie. You’ll make it seem less awkward than I’m sure it was.”  
“He was carrying the heaviest box, my song books, and he passed me in the hall and said, and I quote, ‘you’re lucky I love you. I wouldn’t do this for just anyone.’”  
“Dude, you could have played that off and still gone through with your plan!” Willie chastises him. “Your plan was a good one!”  
“Once I’d said it, though, I just- once it was out, I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I love her and I want her to know.”  
“Wait, did she say it back?” Alex asks, seeming to realize that that hasn’t been established.  
“I’m right here!” Julie glares at him with no real heat. “But yes, I said it back.” She pauses. “Once I could get him to stop rambling and apologizing.”  
The other guys laugh at that. Luke pouts. Julie kisses his disgruntlement away and he smiles, wrapping his arms around her.  
“I love you, Jules,” he says into her hair.  
“Um, guys?” Nick questions. “Are we telling them what we came to find them to tell them or are we just going to make fun of Luke?”  
“Oh, yeah! Jules, have you seen the comments on the video we finally posted yesterday?”  
“I’ve been kind of busy unpacking, Reg,” Julie says.  
“Unpacking, right...” Alex doesn’t sound like he believes that that’s what she’s been doing.  
“The video?” Julie reminds them.  
“Well, let’s just say that we’re not the only ones who think you’re incredible,” Nick grins at her. “You’ve got over a million views and the comments are blowing up!”  
Julie faints. Luckily, Luke still has his arm around her waist and is easily able to catch her before she hits her head. He scoops her up into his arms, ignoring the other guys’ comments about carrying her bridal style, and lays her down on the bed in their room.  
The rest of the household crowds into the room after them. Luke sits down on the bed, resting Julie’s head on his lap. He’s combing his fingers through her hair when she comes to.  
“Mm, Luke, that feels good,” She mumbles. “I had the craziest dream. You said that you love me and Nick said that Edge of Great blew up on the internet.”  
Her eyes pop open when Willie snorts, trying to hide his laughter. Luke glares at him.  
“Jules, that wasn’t a dream, babe. You’re famous now. People love you!” Luke smiles down at her. “I love you.”  
“Oh, my god, are you serious? Someone pass me my computer!” Alex, honestly a little scared, complies with Julie’s demand. “Oh, I love you, too, by the way.”  
Willie is outright laughing now. “That’s definitely Luke’s soulmate right there,” he says. “Focused more on her music than on someone being in love with her.”  
“Well, I figured that if him saying it wasn’t a dream and the video going viral wasn’t a dream, then the part where I told him that I loved him, too, probably happened,” Julie defends herself. “And I have to see what people are saying about me!”  
“It’s not a bad thing!” Alex clarifies for his soulmate, who is now bent over clutching his stomach. “It’s just that for those of us who have known Luke for so long, we see a lot of him in you. You’re like, practically the same person.”  
“Well, I’ve known Julie forever, and Luke seems to have a lot of Julie characteristics, so maybe that’s just being soulmates?” Nick offers.  
“No, I don’t think so,” Alex says. “Me and Willie are, like, complete opposites.”  
“Yeah, Alex is always anxious and Willie is basically never anxious,” Reggie jokes. “I think it’s a Luke and Julie thing.”  
Julie hasn’t been participating in the conversation, so when she gasps, everyone jumps. They’re talking about her, yes, but they’ve kind of forgotten she was there.  
“Oh, wow. This is insane! People love us! They love me!” She scrolls further. “What’s this bit about chemistry?”  
“Have you actually seen you and Luke sing together?” Reggie scoffs. “It’s practically like foreplay for the two of you.”  
Julie blushes. “I- it’s- what?” she stutters.  
“Just watch the video, you’ll see,” Nick suggests. Luke reaches around her to press play on the video, curious, as well.  
Luke recognizes the couple singing on the screen. Of course, he does. It’s him and Julie, but at the same time, it isn’t. The people singing have a strange power that Luke has never been able to summon by himself. He finds himself entranced watching himself come closer to Julie, leaning in, smiling as he sings. The man on the screen is clearly in love with the girl, even though the video was taken before he’d realized his feelings.  
Julie’s eyes tear up. She’s never seen herself look that confident and happy. It’s Luke who does that for her, Luke who makes her feel like she could be good enough for Sunset Curve. Watching herself sing, she knows with more certainty than she’s ever felt, that this is the future she wants. Making music with her soulmate is everything she could ever have dreamed of and she loves that he wants that future, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone have any ideas for Halloween costumes? I need a Juke couple's costume, one for Alex and Willie, and one for Nick and Reggie. I've got some thoughts, but nothing standing out.


	16. The Fall Showcase

The Fall Showcase comes up fast. Julie had been nervous to play in front of so many people before Edge of Great went viral. Now, though, knowing that people love her voice and her words, the nerves disappear. Julie is ready.  
The band had changed their minds about what to play. Edge of Great is a wonderful song, but it’s out there. People have listened to it and it’s not new anymore. Flynn thought, and everyone had agreed, that they’d outstage Kayla even more if they played something no one had heard yet. Thus, they’d decided on Stand Tall.  
The band takes their spots on the stage. A spotlight shines on Julie, with the guys in the shadows. Julie starts playing, slow and hesitant. As she starts to sing, she smiles softly. The audience is swaying along to the music and when Alex starts drumming, the lights revealing him, the audience goes wild. Reggie is lit up, too, then Luke is as well as he sings his verse. The whole stage is bright now and Julie leaves the keyboard and runs over to her soulmate. The whole band is playing and thriving and it feels like home.  
When the drums stop and Alex has his solo, she hears Willie whoop in excitement from the wings. Reggie’s solo has Nick cheering. With everyone singing together again, the audience climbs to their feet, jumping around and vibing.  
The song ends with the band front and center standing together on the stage, hands entwined. They take a bow as people start shouting for them to play another song. Mrs. Harrison, from the wings, gestures to Julie, encouraging them to do the encore that is so clearly desired.  
Julie turns to her boys and says, “Finally Free?”   
“You got it, Jules!” Alex grins.  
They retake their places and Julie pulls the microphone from its stand. “Hey, everyone! Thanks for the love, we love playing for you! You’re a great audience! I’m Julie and this is Sunset Curve. We have Luke on the guitar,” he waves, “Alex on the drums,” he beats out a quick rhythm, “and Reggie on the bass. This is Finally Free. Hope you like it!”  
She returns the microphone to its place and starts playing. They go through Finally Free, but the audience still wants more. Edge of Great is next. They play Bright, even though Julie didn’t write it and Mrs. Harrison wanted originals for the showcase.  
The audience shouts “Encore, encore!”   
Julie frowns. They don’t have anything else. “Play Wake Up,” Luke hisses from across the stage.  
Julie hesitates. “But you guys aren’t part of that one,” she states the obvious.  
“Is that your only objection?” He rolls his eyes. Turning to his mike, he asks, “So, we’ve got one more song that we can do for you guys, but it’s just Julie and her piano. You guys want to hear it?”  
The audience roars their approval. “Julie?” Luke gestures for her to start.  
“Oh, fine.” Into the microphone, she says, “My mom wrote this song for me before she died. It’s called Wake Up and I hope it means as much to you as it does to me.”   
She hesitantly starts pressing the keys, then stops.  
“You got this, Julie!” someone calls from the audience. Julie thinks it’s Carrie but she's not sure.  
Someone, possibly Flynn, starts up a chant. “Julie! Julie! Julie!”  
“Okay, I get it, guys. You want to hear it, so I’ll play it.” She starts again at the beginning and the song bursts out of her. “Here's one thing I want you to know. You got some place to go-o. Life's a test, yes, but you go toe-to-toe. You don't give up, no, you grow...”  
Unlike during the other songs, the audience is quiet, seeming to realize that this one is different, special.  
“And you use your pain, because it makes you you, though I wish I could hold you through it.” Julie’s voice rises, the pain evident in her singing. Luke notices the tears on her cheeks and comes to stand next to her. He puts his hand on her shoulder and is pleased to see a smile cross her face briefly.  
As she finishes the song and the last notes die, you could hear a pin drop in the auditorium. Then, just as Julie is getting nervous, a roar breaks out, the loudest cheer that they’ve gotten yet. Julie stands up from the keyboard, bows, then lets Luke hug her for a moment.  
She takes the microphone and says, “I’m Julie, that was Wake Up, we’re Sunset Curve, and I hope you all have a good night.”  
She walks off stage, followed by the rest of the guys. Mrs. Harrison takes the stage to make some closing remarks, but Julie doesn’t hear them. All she wants is for Luke to hold her. She drags him over to a couch in the props section of the backstage and sits, pulling Luke down next to her.  
“I’m sorry, Jules. I didn’t realize that was going to be so hard for you,” he murmurs quietly. She buries her head in his chest, not caring that his shirt is getting wet with her tears.  
“It’s okay, Luke.” He can barely hear her, but what he does hear makes him relax. “I think I needed that.”  
“If it helps, everyone loved it!” Reggie says from where the guys had gathered nearby.  
“Yeah, Julie, Kayla was pouting the whole time you guys were on stage,” Flynn reports. “She stormed off when you started Wake Up.”  
“Thanks, guys. I think I just want to go home, now.”  
Luke helps her up, giving her one last hug. “I love you, babe. You were amazing out there.”  
“Whoa, wait, did he just say-” Carrie starts.  
“You didn’t know?” Nick asks. “I was sure Julie was going to call you guys and start screaming the day he told her.”  
“When was this?” Flynn gives Julie a dirty look.  
“The day we were moving in?” Julie says. She knows she’s in trouble. She should have told her friends, and to be honest, she would have, but they gushed about the response to Edge of Great for so long that it just slipped her mind. She says this and Carrie glares at her.  
“Your soulmate telling you he loves you just ‘slipped your mind?’ How the hell does that happen?”   
“It just... happened?”  
“Wait, why does Nick know if we don’t?” Flynn asks.  
“He lives with us, Flynn,” Luke points out.  
“And we all caught them making out in the hallway right after he said it, so they had some explaining to do,” Reggie wiggles his eyebrows.   
“You still need to leave, don’t you?” Luke whispers to Julie, noticing her sagging against his side. She nods. “Hey, guys, I think I’m gonna get Julie home. She’s had quite the evening. Flynn, Carrie, you’re welcome to stop by sometime tomorrow. Guys, see you at the house.”  
With that said, he leads Julie out of the school and to the car before anyone can protest. Once they’re buckled in and on the road, Julie relaxes a little bit.  
“Thanks, Luke.”  
“For what? I pushed you to play a song you weren’t ready to play. I ruined the evening! You shouldn’t be thanking me, I should be apologizing.” He desperately wants to look at Julie to see what she’s thinking, but he’s driving. He knows Julie would get pissed at him if he wasn’t careful.  
“You didn’t ruin the evening and I need to perform Wake Up. It makes me feel closer to my mom. Maybe someday I’ll be able to play it without crying, but I kind of think crying makes the song more impactful.” She sighs. “I’m saying thank you for comforting me and getting me out of there. I think the adrenaline from the first few songs combined with the emotions of the last one just wiped me out.”  
“I could tell,” Luke admits. “I just want you to be happy, babe. If you’re not comfortable in a situation, I’m not comfortable. It’s like in that song you wrote for Flynn. 'If somebody hurts you, I’m gonna get hurt too.' They’re your friends and they weren’t trying to hurt you, but they were. You need to curl up in bed with me and cry right now. They can get their gossip later.”  
“I love you.”


	17. Couples' Costumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Luke screws up, again.

“Hey, Luke,” Julie says, looking up from her phone. “Carrie wants to know if she can throw her annual Halloween party here this year. She says her dad’s got some big thing happening that night and he said she can’t have the party there if he’s not home.”  
“Um, sure? If it’s okay with the other guys, it’s okay with me.” Luke looks to the other guys. They’re all hanging out in the living room, the TV on even though no one is really watching.  
“Carrie’s party is legendary, guys,” Nick informs them. “I’d hate for her to have to cancel it. I’m in.”  
“If Nick wants the party, then the party, it is,” Reggie announces.  
“Whatever. Just keep them out of our room,” Alex requests.  
“So I’ll let her know it’s okay?” Julie confirms. No one objects, so she texts Carrie back.  
She reads Carrie’s response then says, “Carrie says we need couples costumes. What do you want to go as, Luke?” Julie’s phone buzzes again. “And we can’t go as ourselves or as rockstars.”  
“Ugh, costumes?” Luke groans. “I don’t have any ideas.”  
“You guys should go as Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder from Tangled.” Everyone looks at Reggie like he’s lost it. “What? The song from the scene with the lanterns is perfect for them! Think about Luke singing ‘All those days chasing down a daydream. All those years living in a blur. All that time never truly seeing things, the way they were. Now she's here shining in the starlight. Now she's here suddenly I know. If she's here, it's crystal clear, I'm where I'm meant to go.’”  
“Okay, that would be cute, but I am not putting up with a Rapunzel wig all night,” Julie shoots Reggie’s idea down.  
“And if I go to a party dressed as a character named Flynn, she’d never let me live it down,” Luke points out. Reggie has to concede to that.  
“Gomez and Morticia from The Addams Family?” Alex suggests.  
“Why?” Reggie asks, still upset at his idea being vetoed.  
“Because Gomez and Morticia are the most ridiculously in love pop culture couple I can think of. Look at those two.” They all look at the couple. Luke’s face is hidden in Julie’s hair as he whispers something. She sighs and burrows into his arms.  
“I love you,” she says softly. The guys burst out laughing, drawing the couple’s attention.  
“Okay, you may have a point,” Reggie admits.  
“What?” Julie asks.  
“Alex was saying that you guys should go as Gomez and Morticia because they’re ridiculously in love and you guys are, too. He told us to look at you for evidence and you two were being all snuggly and affectionate. It was just perfect timing,” Willie tries to explain.  
“Well, we have our own idea,” Julie declares.  
“We do?” Luke asks.  
“Yes. Troy and Gabriella from High School Musical.” Luke looks concerned when Nick starts laughing.  
“Why is that funny?” He asks.  
“Nothing, it’s just that Julie used to be obsessed with those movies. She made us watch them all the time when we’d have movie night.”  
Julie throws a pillow at Nick. “They’re good!” She turns to Luke. “If we put you in the jersey, it doesn’t have sleeves,” she tries to convince him.  
“Whatever you want, babe.”  
“Okay, so Luke and Julie know what they’re going to be, but what about the rest of us?” Reggie asks.  
“We are going as Bert and Ernie,” Willie declares.  
“We are?” Alex did not seem to have known that. Willie nods. “Okay, then. What are you two going as?” It’s down to Reggie and Nick.  
“We,” Nick says slowly, “Are going as Luke and Julie.”  
“Wait, what?” The couple in question say in unison.  
“You can’t go as us!” Luke continues. “Carrie said we can’t go as ourselves!”  
“We’re not going as ourselves. We’re going as you guys.”  
“He’s right,” Julie says. “Unfortunately, the rules say we can’t go as ourselves, but we can go as other people we know. They wouldn’t be the first time someone’s gone as me. Flynn did last year.”  
“Oh, right, she did. Crap, that means we need a new idea!”  
“Sharpay and Ryan!” Julie suggests.  
“Of course, you suggest High School Musical characters. But Jules, they’re siblings. That’s a little weird.” Nick points out.  
“Siblings who sang love songs to each other!” She retorts.   
Luke shakes his head in amusement. “I have got to see this movie.”  
Julie turns to look at him, horrified. “You haven’t seen High School Musical? You have not lived!” She grabs the remote from the coffee table. “We’re fixing this catastrophe immediately. We’ll start with the first one, of course. We can skip the second, it’s not that good. The third one is ok, though, so we’ll do that one next. We can watch HSMTMTS some other time.”  
Nick offers a long-suffering sigh as Julie pulls up Disney+ on the TV and finds High School Musical. Alex, Willie, and Reggie are staring at her. “HSTMS- what?” Alex finally asks.  
“HSMTMTS. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” Looking at the confused faces of everyone except for Nick, she sighs. “You guys have no culture. Just watch.”  
She hits play. While they watch the movie, Julie spends more time watching Luke. He laughs at the appropriate places and during the scene where Troy and Gabriella are singing Breaking Free, he whispers in her ear, “You’re going to make me sing that with you when we’re in costume, aren’t you?”  
Julie grins, responding, “Yes, so pay attention.” As the credits begin, she turns to her soulmate. “Well, what did you think?”  
“It was cute.”   
Nick inhales sharply. “Wrong answer, buddy.”  
“Cute? Cute! It’s a classic! I grew up watching that movie and all you have to say about it is ‘cute?’” Julie is not pleased with Luke’s answer.  
He looks panicked. “I mean, the songs were catchy, but I have to agree with Nick: Sharpay and Ryan singing love songs together is a bit creepy.”  
“Ugh!” She turns to the other guys. “What did you think?”   
Reggie hides behind Nick. “It’s just... very much a girl movie.”  
“What does that mean?”  
“That I can see why you like it but I just... didn’t?”  
“None of you recognize quality cinema when you see it!” Julie stalks off in a huff. They hear the front door slam. Luke moves to follow her but Nick stops him.  
“Give her some space. Troy and Gabriella are her comfort characters. She loves that movie to an unnatural and possibly unhealthy degree, and you called it cute.” Luke winces at that.  
An idea hits him then. “Hey, Nick, where do you think she went?”  
“Probably her mom’s studio, why?”  
“I know how to fix this.”  
Luke grabs a song book from his room before he runs back downstairs and hops into his car. He drives over to the Molinas’ house, hoping Nick knows Julie as well as Luke thinks he does. He grins when he sees that the light is on in the studio and the doors are open. He calls Julie’s cell phone, praying that she picks up.  
“What, Luke?” Julie is still mad. He crosses his fingers that this works. He can’t stand having her mad at him.  
“I’m so sorry. I never meant to upset you. I didn’t realize how much that movie means to you.”  
“It just hurt. I wanted to show you something that means a lot to me and you dismissed it.”  
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Will you forgive me?”  
“Eventually, probably.”  
“Well, you need to say yes. Because I brought you something.”  
Julie recognizes that line and knows what comes next. “What do you mean?   
“Turn around.” Julie turns around and sees Luke standing in the doorway of the studio. “‘This could be the start of something new. It feels so right to be here with you. Oh... And now, looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart, the start of something... new.’”  
He holds up the song book. “It’s a pairs audition.”  
Julie bursts into tears. Luke has never been good with crying girls, but this is Julie. He knows how to help her. Wrapping her in a hug, he tells her, “I’m so sorry, Julie. I may not like everything you do, but I love you. Will you forgive me?”  
“Of course. This was so sweet. Thank you.”  
“I love you, babe. I can’t stand it when you’re mad at me and I’d do anything to make you smile.” Something occurs to him then. “Oh, by the way, Nick says to tell you that he and Reggie are going as the rat and the chef from Ratatouille.”


	18. The Party

Carrie arrives at the band’s house at seven in the morning on Halloween, Flynn in tow. They’re already dressed in their costumes: Carrie as Daphne and Flynn as Velma from Scooby Doo. Carrie rings the doorbell over and over until a groggy Julie comes down to let them in.  
“Carrie, it’s so early, why are you here?” She mumbles.  
“It’s Halloween!” Carrie says as though that’s explanation enough. Julie rolls her eyes.  
“It’s a Saturday.”  
“Yeah, well, do you think my house is just magically set up for the party every year? I spend all day working on it and it has to be even better this year because it’s actually happening on Halloween.”  
“Just keep it down, I’m going back to bed.” She’s about to turn away when Flynn finally speaks.  
“Back to Luke, you mean.”  
“Yeah, I mean, he’s my soulmate. We always share a bed. That’s kind of how that works.” Julie’s not awake enough to realize what Flynn is implying.   
Julie returns to bed, where Luke, still asleep, rolls over to wrap around her. The cozy peace is disrupted a couple hours later by Carrie testing the sound system. The house is full of musicians, so of course it works and of course it’s top-notch, but Carrie is Carrie and everything must be perfect.  
Luke falls off the bed at the sound of music blaring. Julie peeks her head over the edge to check on him. “You okay down there?”  
“Yeah, but who the hell is playing music that loudly?”  
“Carrie. Or maybe Flynn. They’re setting up for the party. We should get our costumes on and go help them.”  
“When did Carrie get here?” Luke asks, having slept through the doorbell.  
“Like, seven? She said she’d be quiet but I guess she figured we’d all slept long enough.”  
“Okay, but it’s only eleven. Why do we have to put our costumes on now?”  
“Luke, if we step out of this room not in costume, Carrie will kill us and use our corpses as decorations.”  
“Your friends are weird,” he mutters, but goes to the closet where his costume is.  
“You’re one to talk. You’re friends with Reggie and he’s way more questionable.” Julie retorts, changing into her Gabriella dress. Luke watches in amusement as she straightens then curls her hair.  
“If you were going to have your hair curly, why did you straighten it?” He’s lived with Julie for over a month now, but knows he will never understand beauty regimes.  
“My natural hair isn’t the right kind of curly. Gabriella has loose curls. My hair is too curly for that.” She brushes on some lip gloss, then adds some red and silver bracelets.  
Luke opens the bedroom door to go downstairs and stops short. “Whoa.”  
“Yeah, Carrie goes all out for her Halloween party.” Julie does not seem surprised by the extravagant decorations that have turned a typical house into a haunted mansion. The walls are black and dark red; long, dark drapes cover the windows, and the floor has a deep purple carpet running down the center of the hallway.  
“This is all reversible, right?” Luke says desperately. The guys are going to be pissed if their house is now a haunted mansion.  
“It’s vinyl stickers, command hooks, and some fabric,” Julie informs him. “So, yes. Carrie can and will turn the house back to normal. Probably not until tomorrow, but she will.”  
They walk downstairs into the living room which is totally unrecognizable. Alex, Willie, and Reggie are sitting on the couch watching Carrie and, to a lesser extent, Flynn and Nick buzz around making changes and adding finishing touches. The boys look somewhat frightened and Luke knows it’s not because of the spooky decor. Carrie is a woman on a mission and they don’t seem to know what to do with that.  
“Julie, your friend is scary,” Reggie whispers.  
“Which one?”  
“Daphne.” He can’t remember which one is Carrie and which one is Flynn, so he opts for the safe bet and calls her by her costume.  
“That’s Carrie. She adores Halloween. Like, when we were kids, she’d drag us all out trick-or-treating for the whole time that it was happening. We went to as many different neighborhoods as we could so that we could go multiple times each year. Just stay out of her way and you’ll be fine.”  
Flynn notices Julie then. “Julie! You’re finally awake!”  
“Yeah, no thanks to your music.” Julie rolls her eyes. “I was comfortable!”  
“Of course you were,” Flynn says suggestively.  
“You scared Luke so much that he fell out of bed!” Flynn has the grace to look embarrassed by that.  
“Well, it was eleven! He should have been up by then,” Flynn retorts.  
“We were up late last night. You know I have to watch like ten different Halloween movies every year before Carrie’s party, and then Luke had some movies he wanted to show me. I don’t think we actually went to bed until, like three in the morning!” Julie defends herself.  
“Enough talking, I need your help,” Carrie interrupts the budding argument.  
“Sure, Carrie, what do you need?” Julie asks.  
“Get the guys to put their costumes on, Julie, and Nick, go to my house and get the box of skulls. Flynn, do you have the music sorted out?”  
“Scary,” Reggie reiterates.  
By the time Nick gets to Carrie’s house, figures out where the skulls are, and gets back through LA traffic, it’s almost time for guests to start arriving. Carrie gets everyone to hurry and put the skulls in place and set the snacks out. They finish just in time.  
Nick’s friends from the lacrosse team arrive first, but before long, it seems like half of Los Feliz High is there. The band is getting frustrated by the high school girls flirting with them like they’re not all in relationships when Carrie offers them a saving grace.  
“Hey, guys, you wanna do a bit of a show?” She suggests. The guys look at each other and shrug.  
“At least if we’re performing, then they can’t touch us,” Alex points out, which gets Reggie and Luke to agree. Their instruments are, of course, already set up because they’re musicians. They practice day and night, much to the annoyance of their neighbors.  
Flynn, who has been DJing, waits until the current song ends, then cuts the music. “Hey, everyone! Hope you’re having a wicked time tonight! We’ve got a special treat for you coming up now! Here’s Sunset Curve!”  
They go through their set list, playing all the songs that they’ve practiced, then Luke takes the microphone. “We’ve had a great time rocking out for you, but now we’ve got one last song before we turn it back over to Flynn’s fantastic DJing. In honor of my girlfriend and our lead singer, Julie Molina, here’s Breaking Free.”  
Julie grins brightly enough at that that Alex and Reggie stop being annoyed about having to play a song from a Disney channel movie.   
“Really?” she asks Luke, covering her microphone.  
Luke just smiles and starts singing. “We're soarin', flying... There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach.”  
“‘If we're tryin', so we're breakin' free...’” Julie comes in perfectly, mimicking the hesitant tone from the movie. Luke grabs her hand and spins her around as they sing and enjoy the moment.  
Carrie and Flynn are touched. They had been subjected to Julie’s long rant after Luke first watched High School Musical, so they know that he doesn’t like the movie, but he clearly loves Julie enough to sing its music. It’s made even better that he and Julie are dressed up like Troy and Gabriella. They both hope that their soulmates, whoever they are, love them like Luke loves Julie. Glancing at each other, they wonder: will it be you?


	19. Heating Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which early mornings lead to sexy times

About a week after Halloween, Julie wakes up at an ungodly hour of the morning. It’s just barely beginning to get light out, but she can tell that she won’t be able to fall back asleep. The only saving grace for the morning is that she’s in Luke’s arms. He’s on his back; she’s curled up on her side, head resting against his chest. One of her hands lies near her head, covering his heart, and her leg is draped over his. This is not a new position for them to wake up, but normally, Luke is awake and watching her as she sleeps. This time, she gets to enjoy holding him as his chest rises and falls with his breathing. She hears him mumble something that she can’t quite make out, but then she hears her name, the only intelligible word from the mess of sounds. He’s dreaming about her, she realizes.  
She grins as he says her name again, a soft breathy sound that is somehow a cross between a prayer and a moan. She snuggles into him, enjoying the feel of her face against his bare chest and the feeling of his heart beating beneath her hand.  
She stays put until her leg cramps, at which point she shifts slightly, stretching her leg, letting it rise slightly higher on and further across Luke’s body. She gasps when she feels her thigh brush his erection. He moans softly at the contact and she freezes. He says her name again, this time adding ‘please,’ to the end.  
Wondering if Luke has woken up, she lifts her head to check. His eyes are still closed, his breathing only slightly faster than normal. It’s at this point that she panics. Her leg is touching a part of her soulmate that she has never touched, never seen, and that part is definitely enjoying it. Should she wake him up? Should she move?  
Her leg cramps again and she knows the only solution is to shake it out a little, but that will likely wake Luke up, and even if it doesn’t, it will cause her leg to rub against his arousal. She finds herself strangely excited at the prospect. She loves Luke and wants to do more with him, but she doesn’t know what he wants. She sighs. She knows she would never have the courage to ask him to touch her and he’s too careful with her to try and move things forward. She wishes she could ask her friends but the girls won’t have any advice, not having soulmates of their own, and the guys... She and Luke would never live it down. Ever. Luke is still getting crap for not having the guts to kiss her without Reggie getting involved.  
As Julie contemplates the situation she’s found herself in, her leg spasms. Luke whispers, “Julie, please,” as she finally gives in and shakes out her leg, inadvertently rubbing it against his erection in the process. Checking again, Julie sees that her soulmate is still asleep. She barely manages to remain still when his hand moves to cup her breast. She finds herself shaking from laughter, thankfully silently. Her soulmate is touching her there for the first time and he isn’t even conscious. His fingers begin to explore her chest, even as he continues to slumber  
A single giggle escapes and she clamps her lips shut, hoping that Luke won’t wake up now. Luck is not with her, though, as his eyes flutter open.  
“Julie?” He asks groggily. That breaks the dam and she’s actively giggling now. “Babe, what’s so funny? Why are you even awake?”  
“Your hand,” she manages to choke out. Luke seems confused for a moment before realizing what, exactly, his hand is caressing. He is suddenly wide awake.  
He jerks his hand away, embarrassed. “Oh, god, Julie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean- I was asleep. You hate me now, don’t you?”  
This elicits more giggles. “Don’t- don’t apologize. It felt good.” She hesitates, but the knowledge that he has already made the first move, despite being asleep, emboldens her so she continues. “You can keep doing that, if you want.”  
“Are you sure?” Julie nods against his chest. “You just- you’re behaving strangely, Jules. I don’t want you to let me do something you’ll regret.”  
She finally stops giggling and tells him, “Luke, put your hand back, or so help me I will-”  
His hand is back before she can even finish threatening him. He gently squeezes and massages the orb in his hand, before pulling away. Before she can chastise him, he rushes to explain that it’s an uncomfortable angle for his wrist and that he probably would have woken up shortly even if she hadn’t been laughing.  
He sits up on the bed, reclining on the pile of pillows against the headrest. Pulling Julie into the space between his legs, her back against his chest, his hands move back to play. Deft fingers pluck at a nipple like it’s the strings of his guitar and Julie lets out a soft sigh. She grabs his hand in one of hers and lifts it away as she tugs the shirt that she’s stolen from him to sleep in up and over her head. Luke swallows hard at the first glimpse he sees of his soulmate’s breasts. He groans softly when she puts his hand back, this time without the barrier of her shirt.  
“Jules-”  
“I swear to god, Luke, if you ask me if I’m sure one more time, you will lose access to your new favorite toys.” She feels his chest vibrate with laughter.  
“You’ve got one thing right. I certainly like to play with these.” She can hear the smile in his voice. “But that’s not what I was going to ask.”  
Julie’s interest is piqued. “Then what did you want to ask?” His fingers stop their exploration.  
“I-” The words get stuck in his mouth. He takes a deep breath, remembering what she had said to him the day after they met: he never has to be afraid to ask her anything. “I want- can I use- I- my mouth.” He finally gets out, hoping desperately that she understands what he’s asking so that he doesn’t have to try again.  
“You want to use your mouth?” Julie frowns. What about his mouth? If he wants to kiss her, he knows he’s welcome to. Then she realizes that that’s not where he wants his mouth. “Oh.”  
“It’s okay if you don’t want me to!” Luke rushes out. “I’m perfectly happy just using my hands, but you told me a while ago that I could always ask so I figured-”  
“Luke, stop rambling.” His mouth snaps shut. “I- If you really want to, you can try it.”  
“What’s got you hesitating, babe? You really don’t have to let me if you’re not 100% sure.”  
“I just don’t know if I’ll like it,” Julie mumbles.  
“If you don’t, then you just let me know, and I’ll stop, okay?”  
“Okay. I trust you, Luke.” That simple sentence means more to him than anything they’ve done in bed. Even if Julie never lets him touch her again, so long as she trusts him, he’d survive.  
He repositions them so that Julie is on her back and he is hovering over her. He is acutely aware that all she’s wearing are a tiny pair of sleep shorts. As much as he wants to explore what’s underneath them, he knows that today will not be the day. They’ve already gone so much further in the few minutes he’s been awake than they’ve ever gotten.  
He has no practical experience with what he’s about to do, but he has fantasized about this moment since that morning when they first woke up together and knows what he wants to try. He decides to start within the realm of things they’ve already done, so he kisses her softly. She sighs against his lips and he feels her small hands come to tangle in his hair. As she relaxes in his arms, he moves one hand back to her breast. He presses kisses to her lips, her forehead then the tip of her nose. She giggles at that last one.  
Then he’s sliding down lower in the bed, a kiss pressed to the dip of her neck. Her shoulder is next, and then he finds his target: the breast not covered by his hand. He presses his lips to the very tip of her nipple and she gasps.  
Luke lifts his head. “Is this okay?” he asks.  
Julie’s grip in his hair tightens. “Do it again!” She orders.   
He smiles against her skin, peppering kisses all over both orbs of flesh. He feels her tug on his hair, but the pull is just to direct him where she wants him, not to stop him. He closes his lips around her nipple and she moans. He suckles there for a minute or so, then turns to the neglected breast and pulls that nipple into his mouth. She starts squirming under his attention and he knows that despite her previous worries, she’s enjoying this very much.  
She moans and whimpers under his lips and fingers, both of them ignoring the slowly lightening bedroom until they hear someone in another room get up and start moving around. Luke slows his sucking then kisses back up to her mouth.  
“Did you like that, babe?” He asks, certain of the answer.  
Julie’s chest is heaving from the pleasure as she mock-glares at him. “You knew!” She points out almost angrily. “You knew that I’d like that, didn’t you?”  
He nods. “Of course I knew. That’s why I did it. I wouldn’t normally push you like that, but your only objection was that you weren’t sure if you’d like it, so I proved to you that you would.” He pauses. “Now, as much as I’d like to spend the rest of eternity playing,” he pinches a nipple softly for emphasis, “I believe you had brunch plans with the girls?”  
“You’re just going to leave me like this?” Julie protests.  
“I’m pretty sure you’re not ready for me to touch you where I’d need to to relieve that ache,” he informs her. She tilts her head, considering.  
“No, you’re right. I’m just...”  
“Frustrated? Believe me, babe, I know. You leave me that way all the time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that there was basically no plot in this chapter. This is just what came out when I sat down to write.


	20. Frustrated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short. Having a bad afternoon but wanted to post something because your sweet comments make me smile. If you wanna chat, come see me on my new Tumblr @knitsessed

When Carrie and Flynn come to pick Julie and Nick up for school, Julie is not in a good mood. After the third time she snaps at someone, Flynn calls her on it.  
“Jules, what’s wrong? You’ve been grouchy all morning.”  
Julie sighs. “I’m sorry, I know. I’m just... frustrated.”  
“Why?” Carrie asks. “Your life is practically perfect right now. You’re in a great band, you have great friends-”  
“If you do say so yourself,” Julie interjects.  
“And a gorgeous boyfriend,” Carrie finishes like Julie hadn’t said anything. Julie pouts.  
“Is it Luke?” Flynn asks, noticing the tensed shoulders at the mention of the ‘gorgeous boyfriend.’  
Julie blushes. “I just- I love him and I want to be with him completely but I’m not ready and I honestly don’t think he is either, but this morning-”  
“Oh, my god!” Carrie gasps. “Did you guys have sex?”  
“No, Carrie, we did not have sex.”   
“Then what happened?” Nick asks, uncomfortable with but oddly invested in this conversation.  
“I, uh, I let him play.”  
“Play? Like, the guitar?”  
“No, like... my body.”   
The car goes silent for a moment. Then: “What does that mean?” Flynn asks.   
“I was topless and he used his mouth and hands to get me very on edge but then he stopped and now I’m super tense and I want him to do something about it but I’m not ready for him to touch me where he would need to and-”  
“Deep breaths, Jules,” Nick says.  
“Did it feel good?” Carrie asks. Flynn is her first partner and they haven’t gotten to over the shirt touching, much less... that.  
“Oh my god, yes. It was amazing!” Julie moans softly just thinking about it.  
“Okay, ew. I don’t want to hear about how good in bed your boyfriend is,” Nick tries to shut the conversation down, but Carrie and Flynn outvote him. “I should start having Reggie drive me to school.”  
“First of all, Nick, I live with you guys and can say with complete certainty that there is NO WAY Reggie would be awake enough early enough to safely drive you to school.” Julie isn’t actually wrong, but Nick doesn’t want to admit it. “Also, you’re absolutely going to be gushing to us when you and Reg start getting all intimate.”  
“Whatever,” he scoffs. “We’re here, so I’m leaving this conversation before it devolves further.” He gets out of the car and enters the building.  
They don’t see Nick again until class starts. He enters the room just before the bell, but comes to sit by the girls despite his annoyance.  
“I’m sorry, Jules,” he whispers. “I just... I’m frustrated, too.”  
“Talk to Reggie,” she replies. “That’s what Carrie told me to do. Well, she told me to talk to Luke, but I’m extrapolating.”  
Julie’s phone takes that moment to vibrate in her pocket. As Mrs. Harrison starts class, she sneaks it out and checks the screen. It’s Luke. ‘How are you doing? I hope this morning wasn’t too much.’  
She grins. Her soulmate is so incredibly sweet. She replies with ‘I’m great. Love you.’  
He sends her back three hearts then ‘I love you more than I’d ever thought I could ever love anyone.’   
She moves to put her phone away but it goes off again. This time it’s Alex. ‘Luke is looking at his phone and making the heart eyes emoji face. We need him to focus because HE’S the one that wanted to write you another song, so stop texting him so he can concentrate.’ Another text pops up. ‘Shit, that was supposed to be a surprise. Don’t tell him I told you.’  
Reggie’s text appears next. ‘Does Alex realize that he’s texting the group chat?’  
‘Shit,’ Is all Alex responds with.  
She smiles softly at her phone. She loves her band so much. Luke is a mess and they're all dorks but they’re hers and she loves them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not related to the story so feel free to not read but I have to vent.   
> Today has been a mess (tm): The cop who shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha isn’t getting charged. My sister ate the last of the French fries AND I broke my bed.


	21. Christmas Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Eve and a strange Christmas morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: As I was writing Christmas Pt. 2, I decided that there was a better spot to break the holiday up, so if you read this chapter prior to 11:15 AM CST, you should read what I added.  
> So, I replied to odd_izzy's comment, but just in case anyone else was wondering: Bobby/Trevor is still Carrie's dad. Because he was never part of Sunset Curve, he couldn't steal Luke's songs, and is therefore not famous. He probably won't ever even be on screen in this.

Julie is expecting Christmas to be hard this year. It’s the first one without her mom and her mom adored this time of year. She always decorated so excessively and they would spend all day Christmas Eve baking cookies, despite already having sent out dozens of cookies as presents and received as many back. They would freeze them and have cookies almost through to Halloween.  
Then, Christmas Day, they would wake up at the crack of dawn and open presents, one an hour from sunrise to sunset. Most of them were either little things like new notebooks for Julie’s songs and candy for Carlos or things that she and Carlos already needed, like clothes. Her mother had had a gift for coming up with the weirdest things to wrap. One year, when Carlos was eight, he received a bottle opener. Yes, for wine. No, it didn’t make sense to anyone then or now, especially since it said ‘World’s Best Dad’ on one side and had a local country club’s logo on the other. Julie had always assumed it had been regifted to Ray by someone outside the family, then re-regifted to Carlos.  
This Christmas, though, is not as bad as she’d been expecting. Luke, for once not being a disaster, had suggested that they go back to her dad’s for the holiday. He pointed out that being in the house she’d celebrated with her mother in would be hard, but that he’d be right there with her. This ends up snowballing such that Alex and Reggie are sleeping over tonight, too, along with their soulmates. Flynn and Carrie invite themselves, but Ray is thrilled to have a full house. There aren’t enough beds, even if they use the pullout bed on the couch in the studio. There aren’t enough seats at the Molinas’ kitchen table, or in their living room, but no one finds themselves minding as everyone piles in wherever they can fit.  
They spend their day baking as three times as many cookies as they did with Julie’s mom, but with the rate that they’re being eaten, she doubts that there will be any to freeze. That night, as she cries in Luke’s arms, the tears are bittersweet. She misses her mom and no amount of found family can take Rose’s place, but in bed with Luke, hearing Alex and Willie whispering from the guest room, knowing that Carrie and Flynn are in the studio and Nick and Reggie are on the floor in the living room, she feels content.  
Life is strange but sweet with this new, found family and this has never been more evident than the disaster that is Christmas morning. It starts with Carlos jumping onto Julie and Luke’s bed, like he does every year. Carlos has, of course, forgotten that Julie’s bed is no longer just Julie’s, but that Luke also occupies it. When he collapses on top of Julie, Luke gets a pointy elbow in the gut. Most guys would be upset about this, but Luke, being the amazing guy Julie has come to realize he is, just laughs. Well, he wheezes for a minute, desperately trying to catch his breath, but then he just waves off Carlos’s apologies, chuckling..  
“It’s okay, little man. You didn’t mean to do that. Now, do me a favor?” Luke sends Carlos off to wake up Alex and Reggie.  
“Luke, are you sure you’re okay?” Julie asks worriedly once Carlos is gone.  
“I’m fine,” he replies, before reconsidering. “I’d be better if you kissed it,” he jokes.  
Julie rolls her eyes, but pushes up the shirt he’s wearing and presses her lips to the already forming bruise. “Better?” She asks, desperately trying not to get distracted because abs. Luke’s body is gorgeous, at least from what she’s seen of it, but they’re in her dad’s house and Carlos could be back any minute, so she kisses the bruise once more, then gets up.  
Luke has gone silent and that’s when Julie realizes exactly where her mouth had been. Carlos had gotten Luke right in the lower stomach and by putting her lips on the injured skin, she inadvertently put them fairly close to another part of Luke’s anatomy, a part that is standing to attention, obvious even through his pajama pants.  
“I, uh... I’m going to go downstairs. Come down when you’re ready?” Julie rushes to say, hurrying to her feet.  
Luke, to his credit, doesn’t say anything about her obvious nerves. He seems to know that a joke won’t help. “Yeah, I’ll be down in a few.”  
“Don’t get dressed,” Julie reminds him. It’s family tradition to stay in pajamas all day, but after she says it, she realizes how it might come off. Blushing, she scurries out of the room. She bolts down to the studio, barely taking the time to greet her dad in the kitchen. When she barges into the studio, Carrie and Flynn jump up.  
“Where’s the fire, Jules?” Carrie asks.  
“Carlos accidentally elbowed Luke in the stomach when he came to wake us up so once Luke got rid of him he jokingly asked me to kiss it better and so I did but my mouth was so close to certain parts of his anatomy and he was hard and I told him not to get dressed and I’m freaking out and what do I do?” Julie is talking so fast that the other girls can barely understand a word that comes out of her mouth, but they’re able to get the jist of it.  
“Take a deep breath, Jules. Was Luke uncomfortable?” Flynn asks.  
“He didn’t say anything. He was really quiet and then I realized how close I was to... yeah, so I got up and said I was going downstairs and he said he’d be down in a few. ”  
“Julie, if I know anything about that man, it’s that he is probably freaking out, too, but only because he’s worried about how you’re doing,” Carrie says reasonably.  
“She’s got a point, Jules. You’re basically everything that matters to Luke. Well, you and music. He just wants you to be happy and he’s probably super worried that his joke put you in a position that made you uncomfortable.”  
“But-”  
“Julie. Seriously? Just go talk to him.” Carrie seems about ready to drag Julie forcefully over to Luke and make her talk.  
“Okay, okay, I’ll do it.”

Julie hadn’t been able to make herself go inside to find Luke, so Flynn and Carrie went inside with promises to send Luke out to her. That had been five minutes ago. The knock on the studio doors startles Julie out of her thoughts. “Julie?” Luke calls, pushing the doors open a little ways. “Are you okay?”  
She sighs, face in her hands. Carrie was right, Luke is worried about her. How did she get that lucky? A gorgeous, talented soulmate with such a kind heart. Luke is everything she could ever have asked for and more. And all she’s done today is worry him.   
Her soulmate slips through the doors, shutting them behind him. When he turns back to face her and sees her posture, he frowns. “Oh, babe, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”  
“Luke, I need you to be quiet and listen, okay?”  
“Of course, Jules, anything you need.” Julie feels even guiltier at that.  
“I don’t deserve you,” she says. Luke looks ready to object, but Julie holds up a hand. “No, hear me out. You gave me music back. I know you think I would have started playing again without you, but I hadn’t even been able to hear jingles on TV before your band practice that day, much less perform. You’ve been so sweet and perfect and I feel so much for you and I don’t know how to handle it. And it’s not just love. I- you’re beautiful, inside and out, and I’m just so attracted to you and it scares me. You make me feel so safe and I know you would never push me, but I’m worried that I’ll push you.” Julie sighs. “I’m ready, but I’m also scared. I don’t want to risk messing up our relationship because you’re everything to me.”  
Luke counts to thirty before raising his hand. “Can I talk now?” He asks.  
Julie groans. How sweet is he? Not responding even though she was clearly done talking because she’d told him to listen. “Oh, yeah, go ahead.”   
“Okay, so, first, I don’t deserve you. You’re beautiful and smart and funny and kind and you love my friends even though Reggie’s questionable and Alex only speaks in sarcasm. You say I gave you music back but you make my music so much better. Do you realize that the video for Edge of Great has twice as many views on Youtube as all of Sunset Curve’s other videos combined? And do you really think I’m not just as attracted to you as you are to me? Julie, babe, you leave me so hard it’s literally painful. I was just waiting for you to be ready. And babe, you never have to worry about messing up our relationship. It’s not just on you. We’re in this together.”  
Julie stands up from the couch and flings herself into Luke’s arms. “I was an idiot, wasn’t I?”   
“Jules, we both were. Let’s make a promise: if there’s ever anything we’re feeling about our relationship or each other that’s making us feel awkward or uncomfortable, we need to talk about it. I thought you were overwhelmed and felt like I was pushing you, but I’m gathering that that’s not the case, and I think you thought that I didn’t want you, which, babe, could not be further from the truth. So, deal?”  
“Deal.” Julie kisses her soulmate, then pulls out of his arms. “Let’s go inside. We have presents to open!”


	22. Christmas, Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song in this chapter is I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith.

Everyone is waiting in the living room when Luke and Julie get back inside. Because there are so many people exchanging gifts, everyone only got each other one thing, despite the Molina family tradition of opening a gift an hour. They figured that one big, massive exchange would take the bulk of the day as it is, so that’s what they had decided to do.  
Carlos, being the smallest and most easily able to get under the tree, had been assigned the role of Santa. He proudly dons a Santa hat and reaches under the tree for the first gift to be exchanged. “To Ray, from Luke.”  
The envelope clearly holds a card, but Ray is pleased to discover a gift card in there, as well. “Ikea!” He exclaims.  
“It occurred to me that I’ve brought a lot of people into your house this year and that you’d probably benefit from some new furniture. That kitchen table is not big enough and you could probably use a couple more chairs in here, too,” Luke explains shyly.  
“Luke, mijo, this is perfect. Do you want to come help me pick stuff out? We can make a day of it.”  
“I’d be honored, but can we go while Julie’s at school?” Julie looks confused at this request, so Luke turns to his soulmate and clarifies. “I want to be with you whenever I can, so if we go while you have class, then it doesn’t interrupt our time together.”  
Carlos mimes gagging, but is genuinely pleased for his sister. Julie has had a hard year and absolutely deserves a soulmate who cherishes her this much.  
“Papí, I can’t find what you got Luke,” Carlos says from under the tree, where he’s digging around.  
“That’s because it’s not there. I already gave it to him privately.” Ray informs his son.  
“Oh, okay.” Carlos is confused, but picks a random gift next. “Carrie to Julie.”  
Julie pulls the tissue paper out of the gift bag and peeks in. “Carrie!” She shrieks, blushing and shoving the tissue paper back in.  
Luke, who is sitting next to Julie, takes the bag, removes the paper, looks in, then grins. “Thanks, Carrie.”  
Julie elbows Luke, thankfully not where Carlos had bruised him earlier that day. “Luke! Don’t encourage her!”  
“So, obviously that was a gag gift,” Carrie says. “This is your real gift.” She hands Julie a box. Julie unwraps it cautiously, worried it’s something else embarrassing. Inside the box is a charm bracelet. “It has a music note for Rose, a guitar for Luke, a crystal for some sparkle, a heart for Ray, a drum for Alex, a bass for Reggie, a star for me, a microphone for Flynn, a skateboard for Willie, a baseball bat for Carlos, and a fedora for Nick.”  
Julie gets up and hugs Carrie. “Thanks, Carrie, it’s beautiful! I suppose I’ll forgive you for the other present.”  
“Like you’re not going to use them,” Carrie scoffs.  
“Anyway, Carlos, grab my gift for Carrie and the one for Flynn.” Carlos hands Carrie and Flynn envelopes. “They’re from Luke, too.” Inside the envelopes are letters telling the girls that they have paid appointments at Sunset Curve’s recording booth to record their demos. “You can reschedule if you need to, but it was easier to just book a date if we were going to prepay.”  
Carrie and Flynn hug Julie, then Luke, then each other. “This is amazing, you guys!” Carrie squeals.  
“Seriously!” Flynn is practically vibrating with excitement. “My gift for you is not nearly this awesome.”  
Carlos, on cue, grabs Flynn’s present for Julie. It’s a big gift bag, holding an outfit for her to perform in. The leather jacket; poofy, purple dress; leather boots; and cute earrings make Julie smile.  
“Thanks, Flynn! This’ll be great for our first concert, whenever that is!”  
“I can absolutely see you rocking Stand Tall in that,” Luke decides. “Not that you don’t rock it, whatever you’re wearing.”  
“Luke to me!” Carlos interrupts, pulling out another present. It’s pretty obvious what it is, given that Luke just stuck a bow on the case. “A guitar?”  
“And a promise to teach you how to play it,” Luke adds. Carlos’ face lights up.  
“I’m getting guitar lessons from a literal rockstar?”  
“You bet you are.”  
“Awesome!” He pulls out two messily wrapped packages from under the tree. “You and Julie’s gifts go together, so open them together.” Inside one package is a pair of matching notebooks. The second package is a leather binder full of blank sheet music. “The notebooks are for you guys to write music in and the binder is for the finished songs. Julie should be the one to write in that one, though, because your handwriting is awful, Luke.”  
“C’mere, little man.” Luke ruffles Carlos’ hair then Carlos gives Julie a big hug. “Thanks.”  
Julie’s gift to Carlos is next. He opens the neatly wrapped gift to find a video game he’d been wanting. “Thanks, Julie!” Carlos grins.  
Carlos pulls out a little box. “From Papí to Willie.”  
“Carlos, there should be five more of those boxes, one for Alex, one for Nick, on for Flynn, one for Carrie, and one for Reggie. They’re all the same so they should be opened at the same time.” Carlos dutifully retrieves the boxes and hands them out.   
Each box has a key on a keychain. Reggie’s is a slice of pizza, Willie’s is a skateboard, Flynn’s is a microphone, Carrie’s is a giant pompom, Nick’s is a guitar, and Alex’s is a gay pride tag.“The keys go to this house. I want you all to know that you’re always welcome here and that you’re a part of this family.” Reggie starts crying as everyone thanks Ray. “Carlos picked out the keychains.”  
“Those are my presents to you guys,” Carlos makes sure to inform everyone.  
Willie and Alex came together for their gift to Ray: noise cancelling headphones. “We knew what the guys were getting Carlos, so we thought you’d need these.”  
Reggie gives Ray a cookbook, stating that “you’re great at breakfast, but you can’t eat breakfast all the time. This’ll help with dinners.”  
Alex gives Carlos his gift next. “Drumsticks!” Carlos exclaims.  
“I know you have your mom’s drums in the studio, so I thought I’d teach you how to use them,” Alex explains.  
Willie gives Carlos a skateboard and a promise to Carlos to teach him. Ray gets a promise to keep Carlos safe in the process. Flynn, Carrie, Ray, and Reggie give Carlos more video games.  
They break for a loud lunch, then return to the presents. Carrie and Flynn exchange gifts and laugh, having both gotten the other earrings. Luke’s gift to Alex and Reggie is a couple of new songs to record. Willie, Alex and Reggie gift Luke band t-shirts, sleeves already removed, which causes Julie to laugh. Willie gives Reggie a new flannel, Reggie gives Willie some stickers for his skateboard and helmet, and Alex gives Reggie a new leather jacket. Willie and Alex plan to exchange gifts privately, as do Reggie and Nick. Carrie and Flynn give all the guys friendship bracelets (partly as a gag gift, but also in the same vein as Ray’s gift of house keys: because the guys mean something to Julie, they mean something to Carrie and Flynn). Finally, it’s down to Luke and Julie to exchange gifts.  
Alex starts a drumroll and everyone joins in. “Final gifts!”  
Julie hands Luke a piece of paper. He opens it and starts reading. Tears well up in his eyes and the guys give him crap about it until he tells them what it is. “It’s a song, and it’s super sweet and Julie is coming out to the studio right now to play it for me.”  
“Can we come?” Alex asks.  
“So long as you don’t ruin this for me.”  
Everyone crowds into the studio to watch. Julie sits down at the piano, pulling Luke down next to her. She begins playing, Luke already crying. “I could stay awake just to hear you breathing. Watch you smile while you are sleeping. While you're far away and dreaming, I could spend my life in this sweet surrender. I could stay lost in this moment forever. Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure... Don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep, cause I'd miss you, babe, and I don't want to miss a thing... Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream will never do. I'd still miss you, babe, and I don't want to miss a thing...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So who thinks they know what Ray gave Luke?


	23. The Proposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this one's another short one. Sorry!

It occurs to Carlos once everyone is back in the living room that Luke hasn’t given Julie a present. “Luke, what did you get Julie?” he asks.  
In response, Luke stands up from where he’s cuddled up with Julie and fishes out a box from his pocket. He gets down on one knee in front of her. Julie gasps, a hand pressed to her mouth. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to do this today and I had a backup gift, which you can still have, but after our talk in the studio this morning, I knew it had to be today. I need you to realize just how much you mean to me. Babe, I don’t think you realize how much I love you. I would give up music for you, Jules.” Alex and Reggie look shocked at that.  
“I’d never ask you to do that, Luke, I hope you know that.” Julie chokes out, still stunned by Luke’s position.  
“I know. That’s why I love you, because you love me and understand me in a way even my own parents don’t. You’re everything to me and I want to be everything to you. I love you so incredibly much and I want to spend every day making you happy. I know you’re only sixteen and you’re still in school but I can’t wait another minute to ask you this. Will you marry me?” Luke asks. Julie is crying, but so is Ray, Carrie, Flynn, and Alex.  
“Yes, Luke, of course, I’ll marry you.” Luke opens the ring box he’s holding and Julie starts crying harder.  
“Is that...”  
“Yeah, it’s your mom’s ring. I can get you a different one if you prefer, but-” Luke is interrupted by Julie launching out of her seat and into his arms. She tackles him to the floor and kisses him like it’s the last thing she’ll ever do.  
“I love it,” she says when she finally breaks away.   
Ray clears his throat. “Okay, so I gave Luke my blessing and the ring last night when he asked, but you two are not getting married until you graduate, Julie. Also, I don’t want to see any more displays like that, okay? If you insist on kissing your fiance like that, Julie, do it elsewhere.”  
Julie laughs, helping Luke up. “I’m sorry, but he just proposed, Papí. Can you honestly say that Mom did anything different when you proposed? Because I’ve heard that story before and I’m pretty sure you two ended up in bed.”  
“I never said that!”  
“No, but Carrie’s dad was there and he says that Mom dragged you upstairs and then everyone heard the headboard banging, so I’m pretty sure tackling my fiance is way less in your face.” Everyone is laughing except for Carlos, who, thankfully, looks confused.  
“I suppose I can give you a pass,” Ray concedes. “You did just get engaged.”  
Carlos decides that a ring that wasn’t even Luke’s doesn’t count for Julie’s present and instructs Luke to give her the other gift he’d gotten her.  
“I got this made before our first date but I forgot to give it to you and then couldn’t find the right time.” Luke hands Julie a mess of paper and tape and ribbon. “I suck at wrapping gifts, I’m sorry.”  
Julie can see leather peeking out through the rumpled up bits of newspaper that are masquerading as wrapping paper. It takes her several minutes to get through the disastrous wrap job to find a leatherbound book. It has a monogrammed heart with J + L embossed in the center. “It was for us to write songs in, but Carlos already got us something for that, so if you want to use it for something else, you can.” He rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably. “I thought that every night I could write you a letter and then every morning you could write back and we could tell each other about our days to record our engagement?”  
“Luke, that’s such a sweet idea. I love it.” Julie kisses him again, but less passionately than before, which Ray approves of.  
Carrie and Flynn take that moment to drag Julie up to her room to gush. “Oh my god, Julie, he proposed!” Carrie states the obvious.  
“Yeah...” The dreamy smile on Julie’s face makes her friends happy. Julie has had a hard year and seeing her this happy is all they could have asked for.  
“Kayla is going to flip when she finds out!” Flynn points out.  
“Oh, you’re right!” Carrie grins. “Well, I guess she’ll have to shut up about Luke dropping you. Anyway, Julie, that must have been some talk in the studio this morning.”   
“Yeah, we realized that we were idiots and talked it out. I think he finally understood that I don’t feel like I’m good enough for him and wanted to make sure that I knew that he wants me and only me.”  
“Julie, you are absolutely good enough for him. You’re a way better singer, you’re gorgeous, and you love him. What more could he ask for in a soulmate?” Flynn is an excellent supporter, almost as big a fan of Julie as Luke is.  
Luke knocks on the door. “Carrie, Flynn, I would like to have some time with my future wife. Can you spare her?”  
Julie’s friends get up, giggling. “Don’t let the headboard bang too much.”  
Julie throws a pillow at Carrie. “We’re not going to have sex right now, you idiot. He probably just wants some cuddles.”  
Luke, who can absolutely hear them through the door, confirms this. “She’s right, you know. I just want to hold her and maybe do some writing.”  
Carrie opens the door. “Well, I bet you’ll get a hit song out of this engagement high.” She drags Flynn out behind her, shutting the door on their way out, and Luke sits down on the bed next to Julie. “I love you so incredibly much, you know.”  
“I know. I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know people might think it's a little soon for this, but you gotta remember that Juke has spent basically every minute that Julie's not in school together. The other thing is that Julie is insecure and this is the best way Luke can think of to show her how much he loves her. He's tried writing her love songs and just telling her, but based on the studio conversation, he's come to realize that it isn't working. Hence, the proposal.


	24. Rumors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for those of you who think an engagement is too soon. Remember, they are soulmates. They have been matched together by the universe and they know there will never be anyone else. Also for those of you who don't realize it, it's been three months. Julie's birthday was late September for the sake of this fic.

Kayla takes the news of Luke and Julie’s engagement about as expected. She snarks about how Luke must be scraping the bottom of the barrel if he’s marrying Julie. She then spreads a rumor that he only proposed because Julie is pregnant, and then informs anyone who will listen that the baby is not Luke’s. Unfortunately, one of the people that listens is a reporter.  
As Julie leaves the building after her first day back at school after winter break, reporters swarm her. “Julie, Julie, is it true that Luke Patterson proposed to you?”  
“Yes, it was very sweet,” Julie acknowledges, trying to push past the hoards to get to Carrie’s car. Nick and Flynn are standing by the doors, waiting for Carrie to come unlock the car, and the reporters latch onto Nick.  
“Is he Luke’s competition? Rumors have it that you’re pregnant and that the baby isn’t your fiance’s,” a reporter shouts.  
“I’m not pregnant! Nick is just a friend!” Julie shouts. Thankfully, then Luke is there, jumping out of the backseat of a still moving car driven by Reggie, Alex riding shotgun.  
“Julie, are you okay, baby? Flynn texted us.” Luke wraps his arms around a shaking Julie.  
“I’m just...” Julie can’t get the sentence out as she breaks down.  
“Hey, hey, it’s okay, babe. We’ll get you out of here.” Luke guides Julie into the backseat of Reggie’s car, climbing in after her. “Drive, but not to our house or hers. Just... around.”  
Julie knows it’s not safe, but after the chaos of the paparazzi, she just needs to be held, so she climbs onto Luke’s lap. “I-” she tries to speak but chokes on the words.  
“I know, baby, the media is still super overwhelming for us and we’ve been doing this for years. Just breathe with me. In, two, three, four, out. In, two, three, four, out.” As Julie’s breathing settles, she wraps her arms around Luke’s neck, pulling his head down to hers.  
“Kiss me and make me forget about them.” Luke presses a gentle kiss to Julie’s lips, then pulls back.  
“I don’t want you to associate kissing me with these emotions, babe. Do you think coming up with a plan will help?” Julie nods into his chest. “Alex, what’ve you got?”  
“So, the label wants you guys to go on a talk show tonight. They think getting an interview about your relationship might help settle some of the speculation,” Alex says, looking at his texts.  
Julie tenses. “Hey, hey, baby, we don’t have to do that if you’re not comfortable,” Luke soothes.   
“No, we need to. I don’t... the rumors are vicious.”  
“Okay, Julie, I just confirmed with our manager. The four of us are on LA Tonight this evening.” Julie squeaks. Alex turns around in his seat. “Listen, we’ll be there with you, okay? Luke will hold your hand and Reggie and I will be there supporting you guys. If you get nervous, just look at Luke. You love Luke and you know he’ll protect you, right?”  
“Yeah,” Julie whispers.  
“You got this,” Reggie encourages, changing route to the studio where LA Tonight is recorded.  
They arrive and Luke guides Julie into the dressing room. A makeup artist comes over and tuts. “Tears? You’ve got Luke Patterson on your arm, girl. Be proud.”  
Despite that initial harsh comment, the makeup artist proves to be sweet. She dries Julie’s tears and then works her magic to cover any evidence that Julie has been crying. The hair stylist arranges Julie’s curls into an artful mess, instead of the disaster mess she had been sporting. Flynn shows up with a cute outfit for Julie, and once she is stage ready, Julie finally feels calm.  
That lasts about thirty seconds before Cadence, the host of LA Tonight, comes in to meet her. “Hi, Julie. I’m Cadence Carter. I’ll be interviewing you and Luke tonight.”  
Cadence is bubbly and kind and quickly has Julie calm again. “I’m just going to ask you and Luke about your music and your dates and how he proposed. We’ll clear up these nasty rumors and then you should be able to go back to your life somewhat normally.”  
Luke appreciates that Cadence is trying to make Julie feel comfortable, but he worries that her optimism is going to make things harder for Julie once she realizes that she can’t go back to her normal life. He remains silent, though, holding Julie’s hand the whole time.  
Time moves slowly as Julie panics, and then before she really realizes it, the clock has changed and it’s time to get on stage. Cadence introduces the band and they file out to sit on the couch. Luke’s arm is around Julie’s waist and he’s tracing shapes on her hip, holding her hand with his free one.  
“So, Luke, this is Julie, yes?”  
“Yeah, Julie Molina. She’s my soulmate and the band’s new lead singer,” Luke confirms, acting just as charming and suave as is normal for his interviews.  
“Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Julie. Can you tell me what it was like waking up on your birthday with Luke?” Cadence’s warm smile does nothing to settle Julie’s nerves, but Luke squeezes her hand and she takes a deep breath.  
“Well, obviously I didn’t know for sure that I’d wake up with anyone, much less Luke, so I guess at first it was just strange. Like, he woke up first and apparently my dad met him before I was awake. Papí has this thing about waking up early and pretending like he’s going to go for a run even though we all know he’s just sitting on the porch for an appropriate amount of time then coming back in and he wanted to check and see if I was alone on his way out. But anyway, when I woke up I was wrapped up in his arms and it was nice to be held.”  
“And when you realized who was holding you?” Cadence prompts.  
“So, this is embarrassing, but I didn’t recognize him at first, until he said his name, that is.”  
“It was really sweet, actually,” Luke interjects. “She woke up, looked at me, I said hi, and then she just snuggled back into my chest. I told her that her dad wanted to talk to her and she was just, like, ‘I don’t wanna.’ Eventually she decided that I looked familiar and asked me if she knew me, and when I told her my name, she finally figured out who I was.”  
“And was Julie starstruck?”  
“No,” Luke says. “She was mostly just pleased that her friend, Carrie, was wrong.”  
“Carrie was convinced that I’d end up with a lame soulmate who didn’t like music, or only listened to country, or something.”  
“Hey, what’s wrong with country?” Reggie interjects, making everyone laugh.  
“We’ve talked about this, Reggie,” Alex points out. “We’re not getting into the Home is Where Your Horse Is debate again and definitely not on live TV.”  
“I have so many questions about that, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about tonight, so I’ll ask this instead: how did your family react, Julie?” Cadence asks.  
“Um, my dad wasn’t thrilled at first. He seemed to think that a rockstar was going to be a bad influence on me, but then he actually got to know Luke and I think if Luke wasn’t my soulmate and an adult, Papí would have tried to adopt him. Carlos, my brother, had decided that he wanted to embarrass me, regardless of who I ended up with, so I think he was pleased that he could point out that I was a fan.”  
“So you were a fan of Sunset Curve and now you’re a member. How did that happen?”  
“After we talked to my dad, Luke realized that he was late for practice. He borrowed my mom’s car and we went to the guys’ studio. Luke wanted to show off, so he got the band to play all my favorites and I started singing along.”  
“Alex told her that she was a better singer than Luke,” Reggie says. Alex elbows Reggie.  
“Was I wrong?” Alex retorts, elbowing Reggie back.  
“Boys, save the wrestling for sometime when I’m not crammed onto a couch with you,” Julie requests.  
“Sorry, Jules,” they say in unison.  
“Anyway, Luke put it to a vote to see if they were all cool with me joining the band, and between them and my friends Carrie and Flynn, they talked me into it. Then Flynn let slip that I write music, and the rest is, as they say, history.”  
“Speaking of writing music, my understanding is that you wrote Edge of Great, the band’s biggest hit to date,” Cadence hints.  
“Yeah, I mean, Reggie said the thing that inspired me and Luke helped, but...”  
“Literally all Luke did was help change like two lines,” Alex points out. “You wrote Edge of Great, Jules. Own it.”  
“Okay, Alex, fine. Yes, Cadence, I did write Edge of Great.”  
“It’s a great song, Julie. How about we fast forward a little bit? When and how did Luke tell you he loves you the first time?”  
Alex and Reggie start laughing. Luke shoves Reggie, pushing him into Alex. “Guys!” he hisses. “Let her answer the question.”  
“Okay, so let me start off saying that despite how Luke comes off in interviews, he is not as smooth as you think. Reggie’s soulmate is one of my good friends, Nick. When Reggie woke up in Nick’s bed, Mr. and Mr. Danforth-Evans agreed to let Nick move into the band house with Reggie if Luke and I moved back in.”  
“So you’d been living where, prior to this?”  
“We’d been at my house, where I grew up. I convinced my dad to let us move into the band house, and while we were moving boxes, Luke and I ran into each other in the hall. He was carrying a box full of my notebooks and sheet music, and said, and I quote, ‘you’re lucky I love you. I wouldn’t do this for just anyone.’”  
Cadence laughs. “I see what you mean about Luke not being smooth.”  
“It just slipped out!” Luke defends himself. “I had it all planned out to tell her with a fancy dinner and flowers and stuff but once I’d said it I couldn’t take it back. Honestly, I didn’t want to take it back.” He sighs. “I’m just glad she said it back.”  
“The two of you had another important conversation recently, didn’t you? On Christmas?”  
“Yes, Luke proposed on Christmas,” Julie replies.  
“I’d asked her dad for her mom’s ring about a week prior and I wasn’t going to ask her that day. I just wanted to have the ring for whenever it felt right. I thought it was too soon, but then we had a conversation that morning that made me realize that Julie didn’t realize how much I love her.”  
“Really? I’ve interacted with the two of you for about half an hour total and I can tell that you’re gone on her,” Cadence says.  
“Right? He’s really not very subtle,” Reggie interjects, earning another elbow to the side.  
“Anyway, when I realized that Julie didn’t fully understand that she’s my world, I decided to scrap my original Christmas present plan and propose.”  
“How did he do it?” Cadence asks.  
“We were at my dad’s. Like, everyone was there. Reggie and Nick, Alex and Willie, Carrie and Flynn. My dad and brother, too. We’d done this massive gift exchange where everyone got everyone else a present. It took most of the day to unwrap them all. I wrote Luke a song for his present, and when we got back from my mom’s studio where I played it for him, Carlos, that’s my brother, realized that everyone else had given out all their gifts but that Luke hadn’t given me my present. Luke got up, fished the ring out of the pocket of his pajama pants, and got down on one knee. He was sweet and perfect and also kind of a mess, but that’s just Luke.”  
“Ray wasn’t too thrilled, though,” Alex points out.  
“Ray?” Cadence clarifies.  
“My dad. He’d given Luke the ring and his blessing, but...”  
“Julie kind of tackled Luke after she said yes. They were making out on the floor and Ray did not like seeing his daughter like that,” Reggie gets another elbow in the same spot. “Seriously, Luke, if you don’t stop that, I’m going to have a huge bruise.”  
“You deserve it,” Luke mutters.  
“Okay, so now that we’ve talked about your relationship, let’s address some rumors that have surfaced today. A girl named Kayla Jamison has been saying that you guys are friends. Apparently, you called her to tell her you cheated on Luke with... Nick and are now pregnant with Nick’s baby and that you don’t know what to do because of Luke’s proposal?”  
“Literally the only thing she said that’s true is her name. Nick is Reggie’s soulmate. He’s like a brother to me and I am absolutely not his type. Kayla hates me because we’re in the same music program and she doesn’t like competition. She’s jealous and vindictive and is spreading lies to try and get her moment in the spotlight. We are not now nor have we ever been friends and the only reason I even told her that Luke proposed was because she kept saying things about how Luke wasn’t really into me and that he’d probably dump me by the end of the year. Oh, and I’m not pregnant.”  
“You said that you are not Nick’s type, but is Nick your type?”  
“I mean, he plays the guitar and I obviously like guitar players,” Julie tips her head towards Luke, “but otherwise, no. He is my brother in all but blood.”  
“So there you have it, everyone,” Cadence turns to the camera. “Julie and Luke are committed to each other and will be getting married... when, exactly?”  
“My dad won’t let us get married until after I graduate, so we haven’t even started planning.”  
“Okay, so sometime in the future. There is no secret baby, no affair, and no basis to Kayla Jamison’s rumors.”


	25. The First Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To everyone who wanted a chapter of Julie playing with Luke's body, here you go!

Julie is ready and she had finally told Luke that the day he proposed, but she’s nervous, nonetheless. She desperately wants to be with him but she gets so overwhelmed when he’s just shirtless and she doesn’t know how she’s supposed to stay sane long enough to actually have sex with him. That’s when Luke has an idea.  
If his body is too arousing for Julie to focus, then they just need to desensitize her. The first step of this process is having him go topless around the house. This leads to endless jokes from the guys.   
“Are you trying to seduce your fiance?” Reggie asks Luke the first morning of this experiment.  
Each subsequent morning, someone (often multiple someones) jokes, “So your plot to seduce your wife hasn’t succeeded yet, I see.”  
Luke always responds with, “She’s not my wife, yet,” and plays it off like he just wants to give Julie something nice to look at. Julie plays along by spending an immense amount of time staring at her soulmate’s chest and arms, though everyone knows that it’s not about the joke and that she’s really just enjoying the view. No one comments that he doesn’t deny that he’s trying to seduce Julie.  
When the day finally comes that Julie can look at him stretching and continue her train of thought, they move on to phase two. (Luke does not start wearing a shirt, much to Julie’s pleasure). Phase two involves Luke laying on their bed topless and letting Julie touch him. She runs her hands over his arms, traces the lines of his abs, and kisses his torso. They spend hours cooped up in their room over several days, Julie playing with his body like he did hers shortly after Halloween. Luke is a much better sport about being left wanting, probably because he knows how and is willing to take care of himself.  
Eventually, Julie can touch Luke’s upper body without getting so worked up that she can’t breathe, and so they try. Julie panics, though, when Luke tries to take off her bottoms. She spirals with thoughts that tell her she’ll look strange or feel wrong or something.   
They combat this in stages, too. Luke touches her through her underwear, which Julie greatly enjoys. Then, one night, Luke brings her to the edge with his fingers and as she’s whining about needing him to help her, he asks if he can dip his fingers under the fabric. The first touch with no barriers is electric and Julie shudders through her first orgasm. That’s all they do that night, but the next night, Luke’s fingers start under the scraps of lace and silk, and then the next night, the underwear comes off entirely.   
Finally, much to Luke’s enjoyment, he is granted permission to use his mouth. Julie had been uncertain about having his face there, but from the first brush of his lips, she forgets all her insecurities. Her fingers grip his hair, holding him in place as she moans his name. Luke eats her to several orgasms that night.  
They decide that they’ve prepared as much as they can for this big step, so Julie convinces Carlos to ask Ray to take him camping, then offers to house-sit for the week they’ll be gone, coincidentally Julie’s spring break. Ray agrees to the plan, repeatedly saying that he doesn’t want to know why Julie needs the house to herself.   
That night, after Carlos and Ray leave, Luke runs a bath for Julie. He lights candles and pours them sparkling cider, and when Julie is nice and relaxed, he takes her to bed. He lets her play with his body as much as she wants, then reciprocates the attention to give himself time to calm down. He doesn’t want to be too close to the edge when he first takes her. He licks and fingers his soulmate to several orgasms and when they decide that she is as ready as she will ever be, he slides home.   
It may be cliche, but both Julie and Luke swear that the heavens sang in that moment. Later, when Reggie asks Luke what it was like being with his soulmate in that way, he grins brighter than any smile his friends have ever seen from him and says that it was beautiful. When Carrie and Flynn ask Julie, she just sighs and gets a vacant, dreamy look in her eyes. Being together in that way is everything they’d hoped for and more. They repeat this experience several times that night, then again every night after, but to his dying day, Luke will insist that there is nothing better than waking up in Julie’s arms every morning  
.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it was so short!


	26. The Anniversary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A celebration of the life of Rose Molina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one made me start crying as I was writing it. Be warned.

The one-year anniversary of Rose Molina’s death dawns uncharacteristically gloomy. Julie had wanted to be with her family, so she and Luke spent the night in her childhood bedroom. Luke holds Julie as she wakes up several times through the night, tears soaking their pillows. 

When it finally gets light enough out for it to be acceptable for them to be awake, Julie and Luke get up. Luke puts Julie’s massive dinosaur slippers on her feet and tugs one of his hoodies over her head before leading her out of the room. They find Ray sitting in the kitchen, a neglected cup of now-cold coffee in his hand.

“Papí.” Ray looks up, startled, having been lost in his memories. Ray stands up and wraps Julie in a tight hug.

“Your mother would be so proud of you, mija,” he tells her. 

When Carlos gets up a few minutes later, the Molinas and Luke head out to Rose’s studio. Julie sits down at the piano, tears streaming down her face. At this point, she can play  _ Wake Up _ without looking at the keys and she demonstrates this ability as she plays through her tears.

It’s still early when Tía Victoria arrives. She gives Ray, Julie, and Carlos hugs individually and as a group. Luke does not feel excluded. He never knew Rose and while seeing Julie and his found family this distressed hurts him deeply, he knows that the people who loved Rose need each other today. He’s just there to support Julie.

Carrie’s father brings her and Flynn around ten and the whole group piles into cars to drive to the cemetery. Trevor had been one of Rose’s best friends and Carrie had grown up viewing the Molinas’ house as a second home. Flynn had been around just as much and they all miss Rose.

Julie places a dahlia on her mother’s grave, then collapses in front of it, crying. She hasn’t cried this much the entire time Luke has known her and he doesn’t know how to help. He’s never been good with crying girls, and while he’s slowly learning how to help a crying Julie, this level of grief is beyond his skills. He’s relieved when Julie asks him to get his guitar from the car. That’s a concrete task that he can do.

“Julie, what am I playing?” He asks. She wordlessly opens her song book to a page he hasn’t seen before and gives it to him. “Just start?”

She nods. He begins playing softly and then Julie starts singing. “ _ Well you showed me how it feels, to feel the sky within my reach, and I always will remember all the strength you gave to me. Your love made me make it through, ohh I owe so much to you. You were right there for me.” _

One brave old man comes over after the song ends and makes a request. “I used to sing Brown Eyed Girl to my Mary. Do you know that one?” Julie shoos Luke away with the man and Luke goes with him to play in the honor of another dead.

When he comes back, he sees that Alex and Reggie have come to support their sister in all but blood. Nick and Willie have accompanied them, and Julie is passed around from hug to hug. When he asks Reggie how they knew where to go, he rolls his eyes

“You do know that Nick was at the funeral, right?” Luke facepalms. Sometimes he forgets that Nick is one of Julie’s oldest friends. Of course, he was at the funeral. He must have loved Rose as much as Carrie and Flynn.

Eventually Ray proposes that they head back to his house where they can make a toast to Rose. Everyone agrees, so the celebration of Rose’s life is relocated from the cemetery to her studio. Ray pulls out a couple of bottles of champagne saved from his wedding and everyone, even the high schoolers, has a small glass in honor of the incredible woman that Luke wishes he could have known. Carlos takes a tiny sip of Ray’s champagne and decides to make the toast with his mom’s favorite soda, ginger ale. No one is quite sure why Rose liked ginger ale so much, but it sparks a conversation about her other quirks.

Luke learns a lot about the woman that would have been his mother-in-law some day. Rose Molina, of Rose and the Petal-Pushers, played guitar, piano, drums, and bass because she wanted to be able to play in a given band regardless of what instrument they needed. She spoke Spanish, English, and according to Trevor Wilson’s fond remembrance, fluent Swedish. Apparently, no one had realized she knew Swedish until the band, which Trevor was a roadie for at the time, had gotten disastrously lost on the way to a show. Rose, the story goes, flagged down a random woman on the street, had a quick conversation in a language none of the others spoke, and then led them quickly and directly to their venue. If her family was to be believed, and who would know better than them, that was the one and only time Rose ever spoke in Swedish. No one is sure why or when she would have learned it and Carlos doubts she even ever knew it.

Luke enjoys watching Julie’s face as the stories continue. She gets so into the stories that she seems to forget that her mother is dead. Victoria tells several stories about growing up with Rose. One, which Julie did not seem to have known, covers one day when Rose was in high school and picked Victoria up from her middle school. They went to the pier and spent the whole day playing games, eating fair food, and riding roller coasters, and, when their parents confronted Rose about ditching class and corrupting her sister, she somehow managed to get out of trouble. That proves to be a common theme of the Rose stories. Somehow, despite the odds, Rose always ended up weaseling out of trouble.

Rose Molina was a great cook, a terrible baker, and an excellent bartender. She was a brilliant songwriter and had a voice like an angel. “Like Julie,” Luke says, and everyone agrees. She gave the best hugs and always had advice, though apparently it wasn’t always good. 

As the day goes on, Luke sits with Julie, holding her on his lap, whispering words of comfort when needed or staying silent when that suits the situation better. The stories stop for a bit around dinner time as Trevor orders pizza. He gets one with anchovies in honor of Rose, who insisted that it was good, though she always picked them off. Ray pulls out a portable fire pit, which he places in the driveway. Soon, a crackling fire blazes and everyone gathers round.

Luke proposes that the band play some of Rose’s favorite songs, which is met with a round of cheers. Julie insists that they start with  _ Wake Up _ , though no one had thought to object.  _ Wake Up _ turns into a cover of every Rose and the Petal Pushers song, which turns into an impressively varied array of songs, all of which someone declares Rose’s absolute favorite. 

Towards the end of the evening, as people slowly head back to their homes, the Molinas acknowledge that what had started out as a day of sorrow has turned into a joyous celebration of life and love. Rose may be gone, but her spirit lives on in those who love her. As Julie falls asleep in Luke’s arms, she finds herself smiling. Life is good.


	27. Caffeine and Sleep Deprivation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter are Brave by Sara Bareilles and We Are Young by fun.

A few weeks after the anniversary of Rose’s death, Julie is curled up in Luke’s arms one Friday night. They’ve just had sex and are resting when Julie informs Luke of something that he’s figured out on his own. “I like having sex with you.”

Luke laughs. Julie is enjoying the way his laughter makes his chest vibrate beneath her head when he speaks. “I can tell.” Then something seems to occur to him. “Did you not think you would?”

“No, I had a feeling I would, but I just thought you should know.”

“Well, I like having sex with you, too,” Luke tells her. He rolls her over so that he’s hovering on top of her. “In fact, I like it so much that I think I’m going to do it again.”

Julie shakes her head. “No, you’re not.”

Luke freezes, then rolls off of her. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” He’s panicking now because as much as he likes being with her in that way, nothing is worth making his Julie feel uncomfortable, physically or mentally.

“I’m fine, but I need you to get your guitar. And put some pajama bottoms on, you’re too distracting naked.” Luke laughs, relieved. She’s got the song bug again, that’s all. He tosses her one of his shirts, which she pulls on. Julie ogles his bare butt until he pulls on his flannel bottoms, then snaps her fingers. “Song book? Pen?”

His Julie, and when did he start referring to her as that, is demanding when she gets the song bug, but the songs they get out of these moods are so good that he can’t help but love it. He privately admits that he’d love it even if the songs were crap, because he loves her. Good songs are just a bonus.

“What’ve you got, babe?” Luke asks, handing Julie the notebook and pen.

“A title, Brave, and two lines:  _ ‘you can be amazing. You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug, _ ’” Julie sings. “Oh, how about  _ ‘You can be the outcast or be the backlash of somebody's lack of love or you can start speaking u-up. Nothing's gonna hurt you the way that words do when they settle 'neath your skin. Kept on the inside and no sunlight, sometimes a shadow wins.’” _ She scribbles the lyrics down.

Luke has his guitar in hand by then and starts strumming. “‘ _ But I wonder what would happen if you say what you want to say and let the words fall out. Honestly, I want to see you be brave.’” _

“Ooh, that’s good.” Julie jots that down. “‘ _Everybody's been there, everybody's been stared down by the enemy. Fallen for fear_ -’ No, ‘ _Fallen for_ ** _the_** _fear_ _and done some disappearing. Bow down to the mighty.’”_

“ _ But don't run, stop holding your tongue. Maybe there's a way out of the cage where you live. Maybe one of these days you can let the light in. Show me how big your brave is! _ ” Luke adds.

They keep bouncing ideas off of each other and just as they’ve finished the song, Julie gets another idea.

“If you guys are going to keep writing, can you go downstairs? It’s late.” Alex asks, knocking on the door. When no one replies, he goes back to his and Willie’s room, prepared not to sleep at all. Just as he’s about to shut his door, he sees Luke and Julie running down the stairs.

Reggie is about to start cooking dinner Sunday evening when Alex goes looking for Luke and Julie, mostly because Reggie needs to know if they’re eating. He goes down to the basement studio space and gasps.

“Oh, my god.” The garbage next to the coffee pot has easily a dozen filters in it, despite that Alex knows he took the trash out on Thursday. There are empty cans of energy drinks littering the floor, Julie is drinking straight from a nearly empty two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew, and Luke is standing at the kitchenette counter making instant coffee with another energy drink. As Alex watches, he downs the concoction and returns to the couch. He and Julie bend their heads over a notebook, Luke grabbing his guitar.

Alex is worried and excited. It’s been a long time since Alex has seen this side of Luke. In fact, the last time this happened was three years, eight months, and six days ago. The album that came out of Luke’s haze of sleep-deprivation and caffeine won the band their first Grammy. It also produced their hit  _ Now or Never _ , which is widely regarded as one of the best rock songs of the decade. If Julie’s writing works anything like Luke’s, these songs are going to be chart-toppers. However, last time this happened, Luke slept for twenty-five hours straight. Ray will literally kill the entire band if Julie gets that messed up. 

“Reggie! We’ve got a problem!” Alex shouts. Luke and Julie don’t notice. Reggie comes running down the stairs.

“What’s- Oh.” Alex can tell the exact moment Reggie takes in the scene. “Well, get ready for another Grammy.”

Alex sighs. He walks over to his drums and starts drumming. Luke looks up. “Oh, hey, Alex.”

“‘Oh, hey, Alex?’ Luke, are you crazy? It’s one thing for you to fuck yourself up like this, but Julie? I thought you cared more about her than this.”

Julie seems oblivious to the conversation and starts singing a lyric. Luke automatically starts strumming along. “ _ ‘Give me a second, I need to get my story straight. My friends are in the bathroom getting higher than the Empire State _ .’” Alex has to admit that it sounds really good.

Julie pulls a pen from somewhere in the crazy bun that her hair’s been pulled into and crosses something out. She starts writing something else and Luke leans over to see what she’s writing.

“Luke!” Alex shouts. “How many songs have you guys written?”

“Ten? Eleven? Babe, how many songs have we written?”

“This makes eleven,” Julie responds, apparently only capable of responding to Luke.

“Eleven,” Luke parrots.

“Whoa,” Reggie gasps.

“Yeah, now go away, you’re interrupting Julie’s genius.”

Alex grabs the pen out of Julie’s hand. She frowns down at her hand, still curled as if the pen is there, then reaches into her bun and pulls out another pen. Alex takes that one, too. She holds her hand out and Luke hands her another. Alex decides to try a different approach and takes Luke’s guitar.

This gets Luke’s attention. “Give me back my guitar, man!” He exclaims.

“Luke, what day is it?”

“If you’re up, it’s probably Saturday by now.”

“Luke, it’s Sunday.”

“What?”

“It’s around six PM on Sunday. Julie has school tomorrow. You and Julie have been writing for forty-eight hours and have been awake for sixty. This is WritingGate 2017 all over again and this time you dragged your sixteen-year-old soulmate into it.” Reggie takes Luke’s return to the real world as his cue to go upstairs and cook. He decides that something carby to soak up the caffeine is probably a good bet so he puts on some water to boil pasta.

“Crap.”

“‘Crap’ is right. Now, Reggie is going to finish making dinner, then you and Julie are going to eat and then you guys are going to bed. That means you guys need to stop writing now.”

This seems to finally get Julie’s attention. “Stop writing? But these songs are brilliant!”

“And you can show us when you’re not running on energy drinks and coffee fumes,” Alex says gently.

Luke helps Julie up, and Alex spots him as he carries her up the stairs. He sits her down at the kitchen table and gets her some water.

She takes a drink then seems to realize she has a headache. “Ow,” she says, clutching her head. Luke grabs some tylenol, confirming with Alex that he’s reading the dosage correctly. At this point, Luke is aware that he’s screwed up and is clearly worried about Julie. He knows he’s not coherent enough to take good care of her, so he’s turned the task over to the most responsible member of Sunset Curve.

Reggie brings over two plates of spaghetti and red sauce. Luke places a fork into Julie’s hand and she starts eating on autopilot. Luke dives into his own food and by the time Julie is falling asleep at the table, the plates are empty. Luke carries Julie up to bed, collapsing next to her. Their artificial energy seems to have lasted just long enough to get them fed and into bed and now it’s evident that they’re crashing. Alex turns off the overhead lights and turns to Reggie who’s standing in the doorway, holding Luke’s song book.

“You should really take a look at some of these songs,” Reggie waves the notebook in the air. “They’re great.”

“But at what cost? Julie’s not going to be able to go to school tomorrow. She might not even wake up until Tuesday. Remember how screwed up Luke was last time he did this?” Alex sighs. “I’m going to call Ray. Can you keep an eye on these two?”

When Ray picks up the phone, he’s pleasantly surprised to hear from Alex, who rarely calls. “What’s up, Alex? How is Julie?”

“Um, that’s a very good question.”

Ray’s voice is guarded when he asks, “What does that mean?”

“Do you remember when Sunset Curve won a Grammy in 2017?”

“Yes?” Ray is confused by the apparent change in subject.

“Luke wrote that entire album in a span of about forty-eight hours. He didn’t sleep that whole time and barely ate. He existed on coffee, Doritos, and energy drinks, wrote the best songs of his life, and then slept for twenty-five hours straight. We call that time WritingGate 2017. Luke and Julie just pulled WritingGate 2021.”

“So Julie and Luke have been writing songs since...”

“Friday night. When I went down into the studio to look for them about an hour ago to see if they were eating dinner with us, Luke was making instant coffee using a Red Bull instead of water. Julie was drinking Mountain Dew straight from the two-liter bottle. Reggie and I got them to eat some dinner and now they’ve crashed.”

“Are they okay?”

“If this is anything like the last time, they’ll be fine in a couple of days and we’ll be getting a Grammy. Reggie read a few of the songs and said they’re really good.” Alex sighs. “I just wanted to let you know what was happening and ask you to call Julie’s school and tell them she won’t be in tomorrow. Reggie and I will take turns keeping an eye on Julie until she wakes up and we’ll keep you posted. I’m sorry I didn’t notice what they were doing sooner.”

“Alex, mijo, it’s not your fault. Thank you for taking care of my daughter. Have her call me when she wakes up?”

“Will do.”

Ray hangs up and Alex goes back into Luke’s room. Willie and Nick are in there, too, now, and both look worried. “WritingGate again?” Willie asks.

“Yeah.”

“How many songs this time?”

“Eleven.”

“Wait, Julie and Luke wrote eleven songs? In how long?” Nick doesn’t seem quite aware of the meaning of WritingGate.

“Since Friday night. That’s why they’re asleep. They haven’t slept at all that whole time.”

Nick turns to look at his friends. Luke is curled around Julie like he’s trying to protect her from the world. Julie’s face is buried in his neck, and they’re clearly dead to the world. “I get it now,” Nick says.

“What?” Reggie asks.

“What makes them so special. Most people in my music program haven’t written eleven good songs in their lives and we’re the top high school program in the country. Julie and Luke did that in a weekend. The crazy highs and lows that they’ve experienced this weekend, and, in all truth, in their lives, will make them legends and if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to watch it happen.”


	28. Recovery

It takes a full twenty-four hours before either participant in WritingGate is recovered enough to even adjust positions. Luke is the first one to stir, and when his eyes flicker open, Reggie, whose turn it was to keep an eye on them, summons Alex.

“What happened?” Luke asks, a strange taste in his mouth. His head feels foggy and there’s a pounding in his temples that, oddly enough, matches Alex’s drums in... oh. That’s a new song and he remembers these sensations. “WritingGate?”

“Yeah, and this time, you dragged Julie down with you,” Alex says, shaking his head.

Luke looks down at the still-sleeping girl in his arms. “Is she okay?”

“Dunno. She hasn’t woken up yet.”

“How long were we writing? How long have we been sleeping?”

“You started writing Friday night at about ten PM, so I sent you downstairs so I could sleep. When I realized I hadn’t seen you since, it was six PM on Sunday. We got some food into you guys and you were in bed by seven. You’ve been asleep since. It is now eight PM on Monday.”

“Crap, Julie missed school.”

“She did. Ray is pissed.”

“Look on the bright side, Luke,” Reggie offers. He’s let Alex do the talking thus far, but the frown on Luke’s face needs to go away. “You and Julie wrote eleven songs and they’re all incredible.”

“Can I see?” Reggie hands Luke the notebook. Luke flips it open to the first page after where he remembers leaving off and starts reading. As he continues through the songs, he starts smiling. He may be in trouble with his future father-in-law and he’s definitely in trouble with Alex, but these songs are... “They’re better than last time.”

“Yeah, but Luke, you can’t do this again. Julie’s still in school and remember what Ray said? School comes first. If this happens again, he might pull her out of the band,” Alex points out.

Luke is only half paying attention, though. He’s found a song in the back of the book. It’s a love song and it’s not Sunset Curve’s usual sound. He’s also pretty sure he didn’t write this one with Julie and he doesn’t actually remember writing it but reading it feels like coming home. “ ' _ How many times do I have to tell you? Even when you're crying, you're beautiful too. The world is beating you down, I'm around through every mood. You're my downfall, you're my muse, my worst distraction, my rhythm and blues.’ _ ”

Alex frowns. “You really love her, don’t you?”

Luke smiles down at the girl curled up in his arms. “Yeah.” He cranes his neck to be able to press a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry, Jules. I shouldn’t have let myself get so caught up in the music that I forgot to take care of you.”

Julie’s eyes flutter open then. She presses a hand to her forehead. “Ow. What happened?”

“We’ll leave and let you explain that it’s Monday night to your wife. Have her call her dad sometime, too.”

“She’s not my wife, yet,” Luke points out, as he always does when Reggie calls Julie his wife.

“Wait, it’s Monday? Where’d the weekend go?”

“Good luck, Luke!” Reggie pulls the door shut behind him as he and Alex make a break for it.

“Did I ever tell you about WritingGate?” Luke asks. Julie shakes her head. “Okay, so remember when the guys and I won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2018?”

“Yeah?”

“Okay, so I wrote that entire album in forty-eight hours, functioning off of a ridiculous amount of caffeine. I then proceeded to sleep for twenty-five hours and, upon waking, knew all the songs by heart but had no memory of writing them.”

“And...”

“And we just did that. Eleven songs ranging from great to brilliant.” Julie frowns, seeming like she doesn’t quite believe him. “Here, listen. See if you know the song. ‘ _ You can be amazing. You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug...’ _ ”

Almost instinctively, Julie sings the next two lines. “‘ _ You can be the outcast or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love.’ _ Oh, my god.”

“Right? It’s trippy.”

“Yeah. Is this what it feels like to be hungover?”

Luke laughs. “This is a special kind of hungover. Alcohol-based hangovers feel kind of like this, but you don’t normally lose this much time. And I know for me, personally, getting drunk does not produce songs nearly this good. Ask Reggie for my song about dolphins sometime. It’s... really bad.”

“I can’t imagine you writing a bad song, but I also can’t see you writing a song about dolphins, so... I’m gonna have to talk to Reggie.” 

Luke sighs, not looking forward to what he’s going to have to say next. “So, as much as I don’t want to deal with the consequences, Alex says your dad is pissed and wants you to call him.” He hands Julie her phone.

“Crap.” Julie groans. “Let’s get this over with.” She dials.

“Juliana Rosa Molina, you are in so much trouble!” Ray yells into the phone as soon as he picks up.

“Ow, Papí, I have a headache.”

“Sorry.” Ray may be furious, but he doesn’t ever want to hurt his daughter. “Is Luke there?”

“Yeah, I can put you on speaker.” Julie taps the screen on her phone a few times and then tells her dad, “Okay, Luke can hear you now, too.”

“Actually, I could hear him yelling even before you put him on speaker.” Luke covers his mouth. He should not have said that. “Hi, Ray.”

“Luke, when I let you take my daughter to live with you, I was trusting you. I thought you’d take care of her, not drag her into a haze of Red Bull and music.”

“Ray, I understand that you’re upset, but you do realize that Julie is perfectly capable of taking care of herself? I don’t need to take care of her. I love her and I want to do anything I can for her, but I am not in charge of her.”

Julie squeezes Luke’s hand. “He’s right, Papí. I don’t remember a lot of what happened, but I got the first song idea and I was driving the writing. Luke tried to get me to go to bed, but you know how he is about music. There’s only so much self-control he can use when I want to write.”

Ray sighs, audible through the phone. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Your mother had a few WritingGate incidents, herself. That all stopped when you were born, mija. She still wrote, but you, and later Carlos, became her priorities.” Ray pauses. “That is not a suggestion. Do not get pregnant to prevent WritingGate.”

Julie laughs. “Papí, I can’t promise that this won’t happen again, but Luke and I will try to be more responsible when we’re writing.”

“That’s all I can ask. Are the songs good?”

Julie relaxes. If her dad is asking about the songs, that means he’s forgiven them.

“They’re better than my last WritingGate and we won a Grammy off of those,” Luke says, grinning. “We can come over after Julie gets out of school tomorrow and play some of them for you if you want.”

“No,” Ray decides regretfully. He wants to hear the songs but... “Julie will have some homework to make up for missing school today. You can come over on Wednesday if she’s caught up.”

“Deal,” Luke and Julie say together.

“Okay, mija. I’ll let you go. Talk to you soon.”

Julie hangs up. She sets it down then immediately picks it back up when it buzzes. “It’s Alex. He wants to know if we’re up for dinner. Apparently there’s leftover pasta?”

“I guess I could eat?” Luke doesn’t sound certain. “If you’re hungry, we can go get dinner, but I’d honestly rather go back to sleep.”

“Yeah, me, too.” Julie replies to Alex’s text and the drummer comes and turns off the lights for them. “Thanks, Alex!”

Julie lays back down in Luke’s arms and prays that her head will feel clearer in the morning.

Of course, when her alarm goes off in the morning, her prayers have been answered, but not in the way she’d hoped. The fog is gone, but the headache is worse. 

“Ugh,” she groans, silencing the alarm. She grabs the bottle of tylenol that someone (probably Alex) had left on the bedside table and swallows two pills dry.

“Pass me some of that?” Luke asks from next to her.

“How many?”

“Two.” She hands him the pills and he sighs, taking them dry, too. “You up for going to school?”

“No, but if I don’t Papí will kill me. Go back to sleep, I’ll see you after class.” 

Julie gets up and tugs on some leggings, a tank top, and one of Luke’s hoodies. Opening the bedroom door, she winces at the hallway light. She grabs her sunglasses off the dresser and puts them on.

She stumbles down to the kitchen and takes the poptart that Willie hands her. 

“You don’t look so good,” he says.

“WritingGate is no joke, Willie.” He laughs. Julie winces at the noise.

Nick grabs her backpack for her and leads her out to his car. He’d gotten his license the week before and is now responsible for driving them to school.

“You gonna be okay, Jules?” he asks when they arrive.

“Do I have a choice?” Nick carries her backpack again as they head into the building. Julie cringes at the wall of volume and chaos that hits her when Nick opens the doors. They hurry to class, where Flynn and Carrie are waiting.

“Julie!” They exclaim.

“Hey, be quiet. She’s got a killer headache.” Nick informs the girls, who whisper apologies.

“Hungover, Julie?” Kayla asks snarkily.

“Not like you mean,” Julie mumbles. Kayla looks confused.

“Either you are, or you aren’t. Which is it?”

“I spent forty-eight hours straight writing songs with Luke, then slept for twenty-five more, woke up for about twenty minutes, and then went back to sleep. Over the two days I spent writing an entire album, I consumed thirteen Red Bulls, nineteen cups of coffee, two bags of Doritos, four liters of Mountain Dew, which I don’t even like, and nothing else. I’m not hungover, but I do feel like death warmed over, so go away.” Julie puts her head down on the desk and flips Kayla off.

“I’ll bet the songs are crap.” Kayla’s grasping at straws, and she knows it. It’s widely known that a song written by Julie Molina would never be described as ‘crap.’

“Hey, Kayla, remember that Grammy Sunset Curve won for Album of the Year a few years ago? That was the result of WritingGate 2017. Reggie says that the songs Julie and Luke produced during WritingGate 2021 are way better,” Nick says. 

“That’s this past weekend, if you’re too dumb to figure that out,” Flynn adds.


	29. Recording

On Wednesday, Luke picks Julie up from school, Alex and Reggie in the backseat. They were planning to go to the Molinas’ house to play some of the WritingGate songs for Ray, but their manager wants to get the songs out as soon as they can, so they head to the recording studio instead. Ray is meeting them there with Carlos, because Julie insists that her family get to hear the genius even though they can’t play for them at the house.

When Ray and Carlos arrive, Julie and Luke are in the booth. They’ve just started the song and Julie’s the only one singing, but Luke sits with her, holding her hand. 

As they watch from outside the booth, Julie finishes the song “‘ _ But you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable and life's like an hourglass glued to the table. No one can find the rewind button now. Yeah, sing it if you'll understand and breathe, just breathe... Oh, breathe, just breathe... Oh, breathe, just breathe... Oh, breathe, just breathe...’ _ ”

Carlos goes up to the man at the control panel and watches, fascinated, as the man leans forward and speaks into the microphone. “That was great, Julie! I think I’ve got what I need for that one, so do you want to move on to the next song or do you need a break?”

Julie takes a swig from the water bottle next to her. “No, I’m good, Jimmy. Can we do the song I wrote for Luke next?”

Jimmy laughs. “Which song? You’ve written three that I know about, and I’m sure there’re more’n that in that notebook of yours.”

Julie blushes. “ _ I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing _ ?”

“I noticed that you didn’t deny the existence of more songs, but sure,  _ I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing _ , whenever you’re ready.”

Julie turns away from the window, locking eyes with Luke. “‘ _ I could stay awake just to hear you breathing. Watch you smile while you are sleeping. While you're far away and dreaming. I could spend my life in this sweet surrender. I could stay lost in this moment forever. Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure. _ ’”

Ray listens with half an ear, but mostly, he focuses on his daughter’s face as she sings a love song to its subject, her fiance. Reggie comes up to him and leans against the wall next to Ray.

“It’s intimate, isn’t it?” Reggie comments.

“Yeah. Are they always like this when they record?” Ray doesn’t take his eyes off of them.

“If you mean is Luke always in the booth with her, then yes, but sometimes it’s even harder to watch them. You should see Luke sing  _ All of Me _ to her. Actually, maybe you shouldn’t. You’re her dad, you might not want to watch her go gaga over him.”

“‘ _ Cause even when I dream of you... The sweetest dream will never do. I'd still miss you, babe, and I don't want to miss a thing. Don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep, yeah. I don't want to miss a thing... _ ’” Julie finishes the song and Luke wraps an arm around her.

“I love the way you look at me when you sing that song, babe.” 

“...And sometimes they forget that we can hear everything they say in there,” Reggie says, rolling his eyes at Luke.

Jimmy has Julie go over a couple parts of the song a few more times, then calls it good. “You wanna give Luke some time at the mike?” He asks.

“Don’t worry about me, guys. I just like watching you sing, babe,” Luke objects. Then he grins. “Especially when you’re singing me love songs.”

Julie slaps Luke’s shoulder. “Let’s do  _ Perfect Harmony _ .”

Luke looks surprised. “I didn't think you wanted to put  _ Perfect Harmony _ on the album.”

“Yeah, well, if we’re putting the love song I wrote you on the album, we’re damn well putting the one you wrote me on it, too.”

Reggie looks over at Ray. “At this rate, our entire album is going to be their love songs and not any of the hits that they wrote over the weekend.”

“Well, why not have them release their own album or an EP or singles or something with their love songs and release the hits as Sunset Curve simultaneously?”

Reggie blinks at Ray. Then: “Ray, you’re a genius!”

Reggie is off to talk to Alex, then, who interrupts the debate about whether to put  _ Perfect Harmony _ on the album with Ray’s solution. Julie and Luke look at each other, then back at the rest of the band.

“Yeah, okay,” Luke agrees.

“I think we should put  _ Perfect Harmony  _ on the album, though,” Julie objects. “And we should release _ All of Me  _ and _ I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing  _ as singles, I think. We’ll look like lovesick fools if we make an entire album of love songs together.”

“You are lovesick fools,” Reggie points out.

Ignoring him, Julie continues. “Luke, do  _ We Are Young. _ That should be the first song on the album.”

Jimmy starts recording and counts him in. Ray’s jaw drops. The song Luke is singing is, first off, not about the kind of behavior he wants his daughter involved in, but that’s not the biggest thing. What catches Ray’s attention more is the way that Julie mouths the lyrics along with him. She’s in that booth supporting him just as much as Luke was supporting her, he realizes.

Luke goes from  _ We Are Young _ to a song Alex informs Ray is called  _ Hey, Brother _ . He then sings  _ Wake Me Up _ , which leads into Julie singing a song called  _ Brave _ then she and Luke alternate singing several other songs. Finally they decide to record  _ Perfect Harmony _ .

Julie sits down on a stool, Luke next to her on his own. Their hands are firmly clasped between them and they share a smile. “Ready!” Luke says.

Their producer hits record then gives them a thumbs up. The emotion in the couple’s voices makes Ray tear up. With every line that comes out of someone’s mouth, he feels like he’s watching them fall in love all over again.  _ This is what we wanted for her, Rosa, _ Ray thinks.  _ A love that is so strong that it can be seen by everyone. _


	30. New Connections

Julie had been out late the night before, hanging out with Flynn and Carrie as she tried to convince them that Flynn’s birthday the next day wasn’t going to break them up. Luke privately thought that she shouldn’t be guaranteeing that, given that Julie is not the one who assigns soulmates to each other, but Julie knows Flynn and Carrie the best and is honestly probably the person most likely to be able to guess who Flynn will wake up with.  
Given how late Julie had been at Flynn’s, Luke is surprised to wake up to his soulmate pacing, already dressed, at eight AM. “Come on, just wake up already and text me!” She’s muttering, staring at her phone.

As if summoned by Julie’s impatience, a text arrives. Julie shrieks loud enough that the rest of the house comes running. Luke, himself, is by her side in moments. When he sees her face, though, he knows.

“So, Carrie just woke up in Flynn’s bed, huh?” He asks.

“Yes! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” Their bedroom door flies open, Alex holding a lamp, cord trailing by his feet.

“Did someone break in? Is someone dying?”

Luke stares at his friend for a moment before bursting out laughing. “So your weapon of choice for a home invasion is a lamp?”

Reggie comes up, holding a whisk. “Did someone break in?”

“A whisk? You were in the kitchen and you grabbed a whisk and not a knife?”

“It’s better than a lamp,” Reggie retorts.

“No, it really isn’t,” Alex argues before realizing that they still don’t know why Julie shrieked. “So, no intruder?”

“No intruder. Julie’s just excited that Carrie and Flynn are soulmates,” Luke informs the band.

The three of them look over to the bed where Julie has sat down, video chatting with her friends. “I will never understand girls,” Alex says.

“I’m engaged to one and I still don’t,” Luke says by way of agreement.

“Yeah, but at least you understand Julie, right?” Reggie offers. “Why is she so excited?”

“Well, I’m guessing she’s glad that she doesn’t have to deal with their break up.” Luke thinks for a moment. “And they’re probably trying to figure out how she’s going to be the maid of honor for both of them?” 

The guys look over to the bed where Julie is telling Carrie, “Yes, I will absolutely be able to be both of your maids of honor. I’ll take you shopping for your wedding dress and I’ll help Flynn design hers. You can each have your own bachelorette parties. We’ll just do separate nights.”

Reggie looks impressed. “Wow, man, I can’t believe you were right!”

“Has your wife started planning your wedding?” Alex asks.

“Ray says we can’t get married until after she graduates, remember?” Luke tries to evade the question.

“Has she started planning, though?” Alex repeats the question. 

Luke sighs and heads over to the bookshelf that houses all of his music books. He points to a shelf crammed full of binders. He points them out one at a time, identifying them by category. “Venue. Flowers. Decor. Bridesmaids, with subcategories for dresses, hair, and makeup. Then there’s the ones I’m forbidden to look at, which are hair, makeup, and, of course, these three are for The Dress.” The guys can hear the capital letters in Luke’s voice. “Oh, and this is all nineteen seasons of Say Yes to the Dress, ten seasons of Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, and three seasons of Say Yes to the Dress: Randy Knows Best on DVD.”

“Who’s Randy?” Reggie asks.

“Randy Fenoli. He’s a major wedding dress designer.”

“You can actually name a wedding dress designer?” Alex asks.

“Singular? I can name six!” Luke retorts.

Reggie and Alex burst out laughing. “I’m so sorry, man,” Alex says, clapping Luke on the shoulder.

“I’m not. She can spend the next decade planning and dragging me to venues and making me binge watch wedding shows. Whatever she wants, so long as the end result is that I get to marry her.” Luke pulls out a final binder. “This one should scare you guys, though. You’re my groomsmen, and this? This is her book on what you’re wearing.”

“Please tell me we don’t have to wear tuxes,” Reggie pleads, getting down on his knees.

“Sorry.” Reggie looks horrified and pleads for Luke to interfere. “You think I’m going to tell her not to have something the way she wants for her wedding? I want my marriage to be happy, guys. You want to get out of it so bad? You talk to her.”

“Talk to me about what?” Julie asks, hands on her hips. Reggie scrambles to his feet as Luke puts away the binder.

“The guys were asking me if you’d started planning our wedding and now they’re trying to get me to talk you out of making them wear tuxedos.” Luke holds up his hands when Julie frowns. “I didn’t agree, and for the record, I’ll wear whatever you want, babe.”

“Dude, whose side are you on?” Alex hisses.

“Julie’s. Always.” Luke’s immediate response gets Julie to smile.

“Love you, babe,” Julie kisses his cheek. “I’m getting together with the girls. See you later!”

“Do you need a ride?” Luke asks. She shakes her head, so he just hugs her and says, “Bye, Jules. I love you!” 

Julie blows him a kiss as she heads out to Carrie’s car.

“Dude, you’re whipped,” Reggie informs him.

“I love her. Why shouldn’t I tell her?”

“Luke, man, it goes beyond telling her. You’re accommodating her every wish about this wedding. Have you ever told her no?” Alex asks.

“Why would I? She’s smarter than me and has better taste.”

“He’s got a point,” Reggie says, snorting.

“Can you tell her no?” Alex’s final question does not go over well.

“Of course I can tell her no! Julie’s not the boss of me. I just... I don’t care what our flowers look like or whether you guys wear tuxes. We could all wear burlap sacks and get married under a bridge somewhere. All that matters to me is that we get married. Julie, though? She’s been dreaming of her wedding day for basically her whole life and it won’t be the way she’s always pictured it because her mother won’t be there to help her get ready.” Luke sighs. “If I can make sure that everything else is exactly how she wants it, I’m gonna do it.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Alex confesses.

“Why would you? You don’t understand girls, we’ve established that. I don’t either, but I understand Julie. I don’t totally get it, if I’m being honest, but for girls, there’s a lot of things that they’re supposed to get to experience with their moms. Planning for her wedding is the first thing in a long line of mom-things that Julie’s going to have to miss out on because she doesn’t have a mom anymore. When we’re ready to start a family, her mom won’t be there through her pregnancy. She won’t be there to meet her grandchild. She can’t give Julie parenting advice. Julie can’t call her at three AM when the baby has a fever and neither of us know what to do.” Luke is absolutely rambling, but he can’t help it.

“I have an idea,” Reggie says softly. “Hear me out before you jump down my throat. You need to make up with your mom.” Luke opens his mouth to object, but Reggie continues before he can. “Not for you, I know you’re still mad at her. The thing is, though, that while you don’t mind not having a mom, Julie does. You can give her a mom, Luke. Yours.”

Luke pulls out his cell phone. “You’re right. I’m going to call her.”

“We’ll leave you to it.”

Emily Patterson is surprised to see her son’s number on the caller ID when her phone rings. She picks up immediately. “Luke?” She asks worriedly. “Is everything okay?”

“Mom, I need a huge favor,” Luke says, clearly emotional.

“What is it?”

“I found my soulmate. We’re getting married.”

“That’s wonderful, son! When’s the wedding?”

“Julie hasn’t decided yet. Ray, that’s her dad, says that we can’t get married until she graduates, so not for at least a year.”

“Then I assume you’re not calling to invite me?”

“Julie’s mom died a little over a year ago. I was talking to the guys about all the things that she’ll miss out on by not having a mom and Reggie pointed out that I could give her a mom. You.”

“ _ Reggie _ said that?” Emily is shocked. “My money would have been on Alex.”

“Yeah, I was surprised, too. Anyway, I wanted you to meet Julie and if it’s not too much trouble...”

“Yes?”

“Can you fill in for her mom? Help her plan the wedding and whenever we have kids, not for a long time, but eventually... She’ll need someone to help her through the pregnancy and be the person she calls when the kid is sick and she has no idea what to do because we both know I’ll be no help. Her aunt will help with the wedding, but Victoria doesn’t have kids, so...”

“Luke, you know I can’t replace her mom, right?”

“I know and I’m not asking you to try. I just want... Julie’s sixteen. She still needs a mother and if she can’t have hers, then a mother-in-law is the next best thing, right? Will you at least try?”

“I’d be honored. When can I meet her?”

“Um, it’s her friend Flynn’s birthday and so she’s out with Flynn and Carrie to celebrate but she’ll probably be back by dinner, so do you want to come over around five?”

“Sure, son. Are you still living in that house you and the guys bought when you moved out?”

“Yeah. Can you bring dad, too?”

“We’ll be there.”


	31. Unsaid Emily

When Julie gets back from the coffee shop she’d spent the afternoon at with her girls, she’s surprised to see an unfamiliar car in the driveway. Entering the house, she calls out, “Luke?”

“In the living room!” He responds.

“Whose car is in the driveway?” Julie asks, rounding the corner. She stops short at the sight of Luke, Reggie, and Alex sitting with an older couple. “Oh. Yours, I’m assuming. I’m Julie.” She holds out her hand to shake, but the unfamiliar woman ignores it and gives Julie a hug.

“I’m Emily, Luke’s mom. This is my husband, Mitch. It’s so nice to meet you!” Julie’s jaw drops.

“Nice to meet you, too. Luke, can I speak to you in private?” Luke cringes at his soulmate’s tone, but follows her out to the hall.

“What’s up?” He asks.

“‘What’s up?’” Julie mimics. “I thought your parents were dead!”

“Why’d you think that?”

“Well, you never mentioned them!” Julie takes a deep breath. “Why are they here?”

“Reggie pointed out that while I can’t bring back your mom, I do have one of my own to offer you.”

“Reggie said that? My money would have been on Alex.”

“You know, that’s exactly what my mom said when I called her.” He sighs. “I can ask them to leave if you want, but I just... your aunt can help you plan the wedding but someday we’re going to want to start a family and Victoria doesn’t have kids. I thought...”

“You thought it would be nice for me to have a mom, even if it’s not my own, to talk to. That’s really sweet, Luke. Are you going to be okay with them around?” Luke nods. “Okay, then we’ll go back in there and I’ll see what I think about your parents, but, Luke, this conversation is not over. You’re going to have to explain why you’ve never mentioned them, so figure out how you’re going to dig yourself out of that hole.”

Luke holds out his hand and is relieved when Julie takes it. He leads her back into the living room, where Alex is trying (and failing) to keep things from getting awkward. “Oh, thank god,” Alex mutters when they reappear.

“Sorry about that,” Julie says brightly. “Luke failed to mention that you would be coming over.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. If it’s not music, Luke doesn’t always think it through.”

“He’s very talented,” Julie comments. “But I do have to agree. Luke is good at performing, not talking. The first time he told me he loved me, it was an accident. Can you believe that?”

“You know, somehow, I’m not surprised,” Emily grins. “How much of a disaster was it?”

“Well, Nick, he’s one of my oldest friends, is Reggie’s soulmate, so our parents decided to let us move in here once they knew we’d have each other. Anyway, Luke was carrying a box with my song books in it up to our room and he said, ‘you’re lucky I love you. I wouldn’t do this for just anyone.’”

“Seriously, Luke?” Mitch turns to look at his son. “I don’t think you could have been less smooth about that if you’d tried.”

“I had it all planned out! I was going to take her out to dinner and buy her flowers but it just... slipped out.”

“When Luke was seven,” Emily begins, “he had a crush on his babysitter. He did a better job telling his babysitter that he loved her than he did telling you, his soulmate.”

Julie giggles at that. “Well, his proposal was good, at least.”

“Carlos basically pushed him into it!” Alex protests.

“Carlos is my brother,” Julie explains to Luke’s parents. “He’s ten. It was Christmas and Carlos pointed out at the end of the gift exchange that Luke hadn’t given me my present yet. Luke’s present was proposing, so he got down on one knee, made this big speech, and asked me to marry him.”

“In my defence, that wasn’t my original present. I had something else. I wasn’t going to ask you then!”

“He’s a mess, isn’t he?” Emily says to Julie. “I swear, I raised him better than this.”

“Yeah, he’s a disaster, but he’s my disaster.” Julie smiles up at her fiance.

He pokes her in the ribs. “You need to stop ganging up on me with my mom, babe!” Julie leans up to kiss his cheek, and Emily breaks.

“Oh, you two are just the cutest!” She squeals. “Mitch, get out your camera!”

“Mom, seriously? First of all, you’re biased because I’m your son. And also, really? Pictures?” Luke rolls his eyes.

“Emily, they’re like this all the time,” Alex tries to help out his friend.

“Yeah, it’s kind of uncomfortable to watch them sing together,” Reggie acknowledges. “It’s kind of like-”

“It’s not foreplay!” Julie and Luke protest in unison. 

“Alex, be a dear and knock some sense into Reggie for me?” Julie adds in a deceptively sweet voice.

Alex elbows Reggie in the side, then apologizes. “Sorry, man, Julie’s scarier than you are.”

“No, I get it, I would have done the same,” Reggie admits.

Luke’s parents look at the laughing group of musicians hanging out in the room and smile. Maybe this isn’t the career path they’d wanted Luke on, but what they’d ultimately wanted was for their son to be happy, and they can’t deny that he is.

“So, Julie, you sing?” Mitch asks.

“She’s got a voice like a wrecking ball,” Luke announces. Reggie and Alex say ‘wrecking ball’ along with him, then start laughing again.

“He says that all the time,” Reggie points out.

“I play the piano, too.”

“Is my son too much of a mess to have asked you to join his band?” Emily jokes.

“Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence, Mom,” Luke rolls his eyes. “I actually asked her the first day we met.”

“And when was that?” Mitch asks. Luke looks at him like he’s grown a second head.

“Her birthday?”

“Yes, Luke, we know. Your father wants to know when her birthday is, son. We’re trying to figure out how long you’ve been keeping your soulmate secret from us,” Emily says.

“September 20th,” Julie interjects before Luke can react. “In my defense, I would have made him introduce us sooner if I’d realized that you two were alive,” she adds.

“Wait, you thought we were dead? Why?” Mitch looks confused.

“Well, even Reggie and Alex have mentioned their parents once or twice. The Mercers are bigots and Reggie’s dad is an abusive asshole, but I’ve at least heard about them. I just assumed that since Luke hadn’t ever mentioned you and neither had the other guys that you must not be around. I’ve caught Reggie on the phone with his mom, and Alex’s parents sent a Christmas card, but I’ve never seen any evidence that you guys were alive.”

“Luke, son, I know we don’t get along, but seriously? Your soulmate thought we were dead!” Emily looks sad. “Do you really hate us that much?”

“We’re gonna go...” Alex excuses himself and Reggie.

“I don’t hate you. I always thought you hated me!”

“Why?” Mitch sounds wounded. “You’re our son and we love you!”

Julie wraps her arms around Luke as he starts to cry. “You didn’t support my music. I just... I couldn’t be the son you wanted, so I figured it would be best if I just wasn’t your son at all.”

“Honey, we just wanted you to be happy and safe. I know we kept telling you that music wasn’t a viable career, but you’ve proved us wrong and we’re so glad you did,” Emily explains, tearing up.

“Your mother plays your CDs all the time, Luke. We love your music. We pushed you to stay in school and about college so that you’d have a backup plan if you needed it. We hoped you wouldn’t but we’re your parents and that’s our job.”

“Hey, Luke,” Alex pokes his head back into the living room. “You should play  _ Unsaid Emily _ for them.” He ducks back out before anyone can respond.

“You wrote me a song?” Emily asks.

“Yeah, after my first tour. I thought... Having proved you wrong, I wanted... I wanted to fix things, but I didn’t know how, so I wrote  _ Unsaid Emily _ to get the feelings out.”

“Can we hear it?” 

Julie stands up and grabs Luke’s guitar from their room. When she comes back, Luke takes it and puts it on his lap. Standing behind him, Julie places her hand on his shoulder to show support but not get in the way of his playing.

“‘ _ First things first. We start the scene in reverse. All of the lines rehearsed disappeared from my mind. When things got loud, one of us running out, I should have turned around but I had too much pride...’” _

Emily is openly sobbing into Mitch’s chest at this point and when Luke gets to the chorus, all three of them are crying. Luke’s voice cracks as he sings. Julie squeezes his shoulder. 

_ “‘If I could take us back... If I could just do that and write in every empty space the words I love you in replace then maybe time would not erase me... If you could only know I never let you go and the words I most regret are the ones I never meant to leave... Unsaid Emily.’” _

Julie grabs Luke’s guitar from him just in time as Emily lunges at her son, wrapping him up in a tight hug. “That was beautiful, son. I loved it.”

“You’re very talented.” The smile that lights up Luke’s face when his father compliments his music is one of the brightest Julie has ever seen. “Will you play us another song?”

“Of course, any requests?” Luke asks.

“Do you have any duets with Julie? I want to hear my daughter play, too,” Emily says. Julie had barely been able to keep from crying during  _ Unsaid Emily, _ but having Luke’s mom call her her daughter is the last straw. “Oh, honey.”

“Let’s go downstairs,” Julie suggests, wiping her face. “My keyboard is down there. The guys have a professional rehearsal space at the label, but there’s one downstairs, too.”

They head down and Mitch and Emily sit on the couch where WritingGate 2021 happened. Julie steps up behind her keyboard and Luke plugs in his guitar.

“ _ Bright _ ?” Luke offers.

“I was thinking more along the lines of  _ Perfect Harmony. _ ”

“Do both!” Mitch encourages.

“ _ Bright _ first,” Luke says decisively. “I can’t play  _ Perfect Harmony _ right after  _ Unsaid Emily.  _ They’re too emotional.”

Instead of responding verbally, Julie starts playing. _ “‘Sometimes I think I’m falling down. I wanna cry, I'm calling out for one more try to feel alive... And when I feel lost and alone, I know that I can make it home, fight through the dark and find the spark...’” _

When the song ends, Mitch and Emily clap. 

“It sounds better with the whole band,” Luke informs them.

“No, that was great! Can we hear  _ Perfect Harmony _ now?” Emily asks hopefully.

“Luke wrote that one about me,” Julie says happily.

“How many love songs have you written for her, son?” Mitch is smirking. He knows the answer is a lot. Luke writes songs to express his feelings and who would he have more feelings for than his soulmate?

“Five.” Julie turns to look at him.

“I’ve written you seven,” she teases him.

“You better get to work, then, Luke.” Emily grins.

“Here’s  _ Perfect Harmony _ ,” Luke deflects.

After  _ Perfect Harmony, _ Emily wants to hear one of Julie’s love songs, so she plays  _ I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. _ At some point during the song, the guys come down to get them for dinner, so, with the whole band together, they play  _ Bright _ again so that Mitch and Emily can hear the way it’s supposed to sound.


	32. Forgiveness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Emily offers her support to Julie and Luke realizes that Julie speaks Spanish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: more hot Juke relations.

After they finish playing  _ Bright _ , Reggie insists that they go eat before his culinary masterpiece gets cold, so they gather around the kitchen table and start eating.

“So, Julie, you’re planning your wedding, right?” Emily says between bites.

“Well, sort of. I’m kind of just gathering ideas right now. My dad says we can’t get married until I graduate so it’ll be Summer 2022 at the earliest.”

“Wait, she has all those binders and she’s just gathering ideas?” Reggie whispers to Luke, none-too-quietly.

“Reginald, I’m only getting married once. I don’t get a do-over if I don’t like how this one turns out,” Julie says sharply.

“I’ll marry you as many times as you want,” Luke objects. “If it doesn’t go the way you want, you can have a do-over so long as it’s still me you’re marrying.”

“Awww...” Emily coos.

“See, I can be sweet!”

“We’ve never said you couldn’t be, just that it normally doesn’t come out right,” Mitch points out. “That was sweet  _ and _ smooth, though, so good job, son.” The father-son duo exchange a high-five.

“Anyway, I was wondering if I could help you plan?” Emily redirects the conversation back to the question she’d wanted to ask.

“I’d like that. Um, I don’t know if Luke told you, but my mom...”

Emily nods. “He did say something. I’m sorry for your loss. I know I can’t replace your mom, but I’d be honored if you would come to me when you need to talk to her.” She grins. “Even if it’s three AM.”

“That... sounds really nice. My tía Victoria wants to help, but she never got married. Her soulmate died before they could, so Victoria has never planned a wedding and is kind of stressed about being the adult involved in planning mine. Carrie and Flynn, they’re my maids of honor, have been pestering me to go dress shopping even though the styles will have changed by the time I actually get married.”

“You’re having two maids of honor? That’s sweet.”

“Carrie and Flynn are soulmates and the three of us have literally been hanging out since before we were born. My parents and Trevor, Carrie’s dad, were the only people they knew expecting kids, so they started a support group to meet other new parents. My point is that I could never pick between my girls and Luke could never pick between Alex and Reggie, so we’re having two maids of honor and two best men.”

Mitch catches sight of Luke’s face. “You didn’t know that you were having two best men, did you, son?”

“Honestly, I have no idea what the plan is. Julie’s just going to have to tell me when and where to show up and I’ll be there.”

“Oh, no you don’t. You’re going to be a part of planning, whether you like it or not,” Emily scolds her son.

“How does everyone like the food?” Reggie asks, trying to save Luke from the dressing down he’s about to get.

“It’s great, Reggie.” Emily decides to cut Luke some slack, knowing that Julie will be giving him a strict talking to.

Mitch asks Julie about school, which leads to a discussion of what she’s doing after high school. When Julie says that she and the band will probably start touring, Luke tenses. When Emily and Mitch are supportive and encouraging, he manages to relax.

Eventually, it gets late so Mitch and Emily make their excuses and head out, but not before Emily gives Julie her phone number and makes her promise to call if she needs anything. 

When his parents are finally gone, Luke grabs Julie’s hand and drags her up to their room. He pulls her down onto their bed and wraps her up in his arms. Julie lets him hold her as he kisses her hair and whispers that he loves her and needs her. When he finally stops shaking, Julie rolls to the side so that she can see his face.

“Are you okay, Luke?” Julie asks him. It had been a long, emotional day and, while she doesn’t know the history between Luke and his parents, she can tell that he is struggling.

“My parents... They were always trying to get me to go to college and I just... you know how I am about music. I didn’t see the point in wasting four years getting a degree I wouldn’t use when I could be spending that time trying to make the band succeed. I know now that Mom was just being a parent, that she was just worried about me, but at the time, when she would say ‘stop playing, you have school in the morning,’ all I heard was ‘stop playing.’”

“So when your parents were being supportive of my music...” Julie trails off.

“It was everything I’d ever wanted. They listened to me play. Dad said I was talented, Julie. I don’t think he’d ever said that before. And Mom loves you, babe. I- Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being there for me? For being an excuse to reach out to them? For being you.”

“Luke, I’ll always be there for you, you know that, right?” Luke nods. “I should really be thanking you, mi corazón. You’re giving me a  _ mom _ . I can’t even begin to explain how much that means to me and you put your feelings aside to do it.” 

Luke knows he should be focusing on what Julie is saying, but his brain short-circuited when she called him something in Spanish. He doesn’t know for sure, but if he remembers anything from middle school, she called him her ‘heart.’ Even if he’s wrong, the language sounds enticing on her tongue.

“That- was that Spanish?” He stutters out.

“What?” It takes Julie a moment to realize what he’s talking about. “Oh, mi corazón? Yeah, that’s Spanish.”

“What does it mean?” Luke asks, heart racing.

“‘My heart.’” 

Luke rolls over onto Julie and presses his lips against hers. He kisses her until she pulls away, chest heaving.

“What’s gotten into you? You already knew that I love you. Why is a pet name-”

“It’s not the pet name,” Luke interrupts. “It’s the language. You speaking Spanish is hot, Jules.”

Julie blushes. “What, really? You’ve heard me speak Spanish before, though. I call my dad Papí. That’s Spanish, Luke.”

“Yeah, but if you’re calling Ray Papí, that means he’s there. He’s not exactly setting the mood, babe. When you’re talking to me, though...”

“Quiero una vida contigo, mi corazón. Eres la luz de mi vida. Te amo.” 

Luke doesn’t know what exactly Julie has just said, but he thinks it was something sweet. He knows a couple of words. Vida means life, he knows that from the Coldplay song, but that’s about all he can figure out. He doesn’t care, though. The sounds on his soulmate’s tongue have him too aroused to focus.

He’s kissing Julie and then her top is coming off and she’s still whispering things to him in Spanish and he needs her. “Julie. Please. Can I...” He fingers the edge of her shorts.

Julie, his sweet, wonderful Julie, knows exactly what he needs and gives it to him. She wriggles out of her bottoms without breaking their kiss. Then his fingers are between her legs and she’s wet and ready for him and then he’s naked, too, and then finally his racing thoughts settle as he slides home between her legs.

He rests there a moment, catching his breath, before Julie is talking to him. “Por favor muévete, mi corazón.”

His hips jerk involuntarily and then he’s thrusting into her and she’s still talking and he still doesn’t understand what she’s saying but it’s wonderful and hot and he feels calm for the first time since Reggie brought up talking to his parents.

Finally, once they’re both sated and cleaned up, he asks her what she was saying. “The thing that got you all crazy was ‘I want a life with you. You are the light of my life. I love you.’ and then once you were in me, I asked you to please move.” She shrugs, and it’s distracting because she’s still naked in his arms. “You’d gotten me all turned on and then you weren’t... I needed more.”

“I’ll always give you what you need, babe. I love you.”


	33. Luke's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my birthday so I thought Luke's birthday would be a fitting chapter to post. Enjoy!

Despite his best efforts, Ray Molina’s ‘school first’ policy cannot hold up against his daughter’s puppy dog eyes. He’s embarrassed to admit how quickly he gave in when Julie asked him to let her skip school for her fiance’s birthday. It still freaks him out a little, thinking about how his sixteen year old daughter is engaged and has been for months, but then Julie and Luke will come over and he’ll be reminded of just how in love they are and it doesn’t seem so crazy anymore.

Julie has already received permission to ditch school, but he begins to wonder why they can’t celebrate after school. He asks her this and immediately regrets it.

“Well, I want to spend all day in bed with him.” Julie sees her father’s expression of horror and quickly amends her statement. “Not like that, Papí. Luke’s favorite thing is to just hold me in the morning when we’re both still half asleep and he doesn’t get to do that very often because I have school too early. If I don’t go to school, we can lounge in bed and listen to music or write songs or just be, and I think that’s what he would want most for his birthday.”

“He does love you quite a bit,” Ray concedes.

“Exactly. I have other presents for him but this is his first birthday with me and I want to spend it doing what he loves.”

And spend it doing what he loves, they do. Luke wakes up not to Julie’s alarm, but to her tracing the lines of his face. He kisses her, then notices that it’s lighter in their room than it should be if Julie is still there.

“Babe, shouldn’t you be at school?” He asks sleepily.

“Happy birthday, mi corazón. Papí’s letting me ditch so I can spend the day with you. I thought we could stay in bed all day and just be. Reggie’s been recruited to bring us food.”

“I love you,” is all Luke can say. He wouldn’t admit it to the guys, but he’s getting choked up. His Julie loves him so much and she knows him so well. This is exactly how he would want to spend his birthday given the opportunity.

“I love you, too.” Julie presses another kiss to his lips then grabs her phone off the nightstand. “I’m gonna text Reg. He made cinnamon rolls.”

Luke’s face lights up. He  _ loves _ cinnamon rolls, possibly because he basically is one. Within minutes, someone is knocking on the door.

“You decent?” He asks.

“Yeah,” Julie calls. Alex opens the door for Reggie, who comes in carrying a tray bearing fresh squeezed orange juice, the promised cinnamon rolls, and some berries. Reggie sets the tray down on Luke’s nightstand and grins.

“Happy birthday, man!” Reggie announces.

Everyone in the band can sing and sing well, but the impromptu rendition of  _ Happy Birthday _ the guys launch into is... wince-inducing.

“Thanks, guys, but I gotta ask. How did you butcher  _ Happy Birthday _ that badly?” Luke asks, laughing.

“Intentionally,” Alex declares. “ _ Happy Birthday _ is not a song that is meant to sound good. It’s supposed to sound like a tone-deaf cat in a blender because it’s sung with love, not skill. You’re welcome.”

“Now, we’ll leave you two to your day. Enjoy your cinnamon rolls!” Reggie says. He and Alex vacate the room, leaving the happy couple to eat.

Luke hands Julie a plate with one of the cinnamon rolls and a glass of the juice. She sets the juice down on her nightstand and tears off a bite of the cinnamon roll. 

“Open,” she instructs.

“You’re feeding me?” Luke chuckles.

“Yes, so open,” Julie repeats. He does as commanded, licking the sticky icing off her fingertips. She eats the next bite herself, slowly unrolling the pastry. She takes turns feeding him the next bite or eating it herself.

At some point during the second roll they share, icing gets on her cheek. When the last bite is consumed, Luke kisses the icing away, flicking his tongue against her skin as he does so.

Julie carefully sets the plate aside and then rolls on top of Luke. Her hair falls in a curtain around her face as she leans down to kiss him.

“Feliz cumpleaños, mi corazón,” she whispers against his lips. He flips them so that he’s on top of her and grins.

“You know what that does to me, babe. Now you’re gonna have to suffer the consequences.” They make love slowly then, whispering words of love and appreciation. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Luke tells her as he watches his soulmate fall apart in his arms.

“I wish I could see myself the way you see me,” Julie replies. She hums a bit, then gasps.

“What? Is everything okay, babe?” Luke asks.

Julie ignores the question, grabbing the notebook and pen she keeps in the top drawer of her nightstand.

“‘ _ I wanna love me (ooh) the way that you love me (ooh). Ooh, for all of my pretty and all of my ugly too. I'd love to see me from your point of view... I wanna trust me (trust me) the way that you trust me (trust me)... Ooh, 'cause nobody ever loved me like you do. I'd love to see me from your point of view. _ ’” Julie sings, jotting down the words, using Luke’s chest to rest the notebook on.

The song gets finished fairly quickly, then Luke takes the notebook. “Hey!” Julie objects.

“It’s my birthday and I just want to hold you for a bit, okay?” Luke wraps Julie up in his arms.

“Okay,” she sighs. They lay there for a good hour before Luke has to get up to use the bathroom. When he returns, he hands Julie her notebook back.

“Got any other ideas?” He asks.

They spend the rest of the day writing, having sex, and just lying together, enjoying each other’s company. Finally, around dinner time, Julie suggests they eat dinner with the guys. “I know they have presents for you,” she baits Luke. “I have one for you, too.”

“You mean today wasn’t my present?”

“Well, it was, but I also have, like, a material gift.”

“Gimme!”

“Get dressed first.” 

Luke desperately wants to know what Julie got him, so he pulls on some clothes, the first things he touches in his dresser. When he turns around, Julie has gotten dressed, too. He pouts at that.

“What? Your present is downstairs. Do you really want me going out there naked?” He had to concede that point.

Everyone is in the living room when they get downstairs, a pile of presents on the coffee table.

“Mine first!” Reggie announces when Julie tells them it’s present time. Reggie hands Luke a gift bag. Inside, Luke finds twenty-four guitar picks. “One for every year you’ve been alive!” Reggie points out.

“Thanks, Reg.” Luke says. 

Alex’s gift is next, the only one neatly wrapped. Luke pulls out several sets of guitar strings. Willie gives Luke a new notebook and Nick hands him a Costco pack of pens. Julie rolls her eyes. She loves her boys but... These guys are  _ not  _ good at coming up with presents.

“My turn, I guess,” she acknowledges once everyone else has gone. “So, your present didn’t cost me anything, but I think it’ll make you cry.” She steps into the kitchen to grab it, returning with something hidden behind her back. “I didn’t... wrapping it felt wrong, so I’m just going to give it to you as-is.”

Julie places a battered notebook with a dahlia on the cover in his hands. Luke’s eyes go wide. “Jules, is this...”

“My mom’s last notebook from before she died. Most of the songs aren’t finished. I thought... I thought we could finish them together.”

Luke is not ashamed to admit that he starts crying. He carefully sets the book down on the coffee table and gets up, hugging Julie tightly until she shoves at his shoulders, unable to breathe. He pulls back and takes her hands in his.

“Thank you. This is honestly the greatest gift you could ever have given me. Are you sure you want to finish the songs with me?”

“I can’t finish them myself. I tried, it’s just too hard. Too many feelings but I think that- well, if you’re there, I think I can finish them. There’s no one I’d rather do this with than you.” 


	34. A New Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sunset Curve becomes Julie and the Phantoms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to odd_izzy for helping me figure out a few chapters.

Alex calls a band meeting, which is unusual because that’s normally something Luke does. When they’re all gathered, Alex begins.

“So, I want to preface this discussion by saying that it’s not a bad thing. In fact, I think it’s a good thing, but my point is this. We’re not Sunset Curve anymore.”

Luke looks apoplectic. “What do you mean, ‘we’re not Sunset Curve anymore?’ Of course we are!”

Alex holds up a hand. “I could have phrased that better. It’s just... ever since you found Julie, our sound is different. Her songs are not our previous 90s rock sound and honestly, the songs you’ve been writing, both with and without her, are different, too.”

“I’m sorry!” Julie exclaims.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about, Jules. We want you in the band,” Reggie informs her. “I do see what Alex is getting at, though. Would pre-Julie Sunset Curve have had a song even remotely similar to  _ Breathe _ ? Pre-Julie Luke would never have written  _ All of Me _ . They’re great songs, just... different.”

Luke has to concede the point. “So what do we do?”

“We rebrand,” Alex proposes. “Change our name, promote our new sound... Bands have done it before, especially when they get new members.”

“Okay, so who do we want to be?” Reggie asks. “I vote our new name is Julie and the Somethings.”

“Julie and the Somethings?” Alex asks sceptically.

“No, not Julie and the Somethings. Julie and the Crew or Julie and the Stars or... Julie and the...”

“Julie and the Phantoms?” Nick proposes. Everyone swivels around to look at him. “What? If you stop playing as Sunset Curve, you become the ghosts of a dead band. Julie and the Phantoms.”

“That’s... brilliant,” Luke breathes. “Julie and the Phantoms.”

“Why is my name in the title?” Julie asks. “I’m the newest member of the band, so shouldn’t someone with seniority be the named one?”

“You brought us our new sound. You inspire us and so you need to be the one in the name,” Reggie says.

“Besides, you’re the most talented member, so you’re the named one,” Luke informs her.

“Hey!” Reggie and Alex object to not being the most talented member, but then Reggie concedes. “He’s not wrong. Jules, you’ve got mad skills and we’re honored to be your band.”

“Now, the next subject for this band meeting is what songs should go on Julie and the Phantoms’ first album,” Alex redirects the conversation, getting it back on track.

“ _ Bright, Stand Tall, Edge of Great,  _ and  _ Finally Free,  _ for sure,” Luke lists off.

“Can we put  _ Wake Up _ on there?” Julie asks quietly.

“Absolutely, Jules. We know how much that song means to you, so of course we’ll put it on,” Reggie confirms.

“Okay, so that’s five. You guys think ten for this one?” Alex asks, getting nods in response. “How about some of the WritingGate songs?  _ Brave _ ?”

“ _ Brave _ is good, and weren’t we gonna put  _ Perfect Harmony _ on this one?” Julie points out.

“Right, so that’s seven. How about  _ Hey, Brother _ ? And  _ We Are Young _ ?” 

“The last one should be  _ Breathe _ .” Willie suggests from where he and Nick have been watching Chopped. 

The band members look at each other but no one objects. “Okay, so I’ll call the label and have them start promoting Julie and the Phantoms. They’ll probably want us to tour this summer, so when does your semester end, Jules?” Alex asks.

“June 10th. I think it’s a Thursday.”

“And she’ll need a couple days after that,” Luke interjects. “Don’t let them make her go from finals to touring the next day.” 

Julie leans up and kisses Luke’s cheek. “Thanks for looking out for me, mi corazón.” Luke’s soft smile brings a smile to Julie’s face, too.

Reggie gasps. “That’s Spanish, right? When did you start calling Luke things in Spanish? When did you start  _ speaking _ Spanish?” 

Julie looks confused. “You guys didn’t know that I speak Spanish?”

“Guys, seriously?” Luke looks disappointed. “She calls her dad Papí and her aunt Tía Victoria. How did you not know?”

“Luke, don’t act so superior,” Julie rolls her eyes. “You didn’t know until the day your parents came over.” 

Luke puts his hand over his heart, a (clearly fake) wounded expression on his face. “Whose side are you on?”

Julie pokes him in the side. “You know I’m always on your side.” She pauses. “But you’re being an idiot and I reserve the right to point that out.”

“Fair.” Luke tugs on Julie’s arm until she swivels down to lie with her head on his lap. He tangles his fingers in her hair. The guys look amused as he makes one braid after another. He’s on the fourth when Julie’s hands come up to stop him.

“Luke, what’s wrong?” She asks. Alex and Reggie straighten up at that. Something’s wrong with Luke? How does she know?

He tries to deny it. “I’m fine, babe.”

“No, you’re not. You only braid like that when something’s on your mind, so what’s up?”

“I just feel really antsy, that’s all. Can I keep braiding?” Luke doesn’t want to admit that he’s worried that their fans won’t like them after they rebrand, so he deflects. Julie sighs but lets it go. Luke will tell her when he’s ready.

“Just remember that you have to help take them out when you’re done.”


	35. One Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter, guys! I'm considering a sequel with the wedding, but In Perfect Harmony is now done. This is the first fic I have ever finished and I'm super proud of it. I'm thrilled to have shared this journey with you and I hope you read whatever I write next. Love you guys!

On September 20, 2021,  Luke wakes up with his arm wrapped around the slight form of a girl. Unlike the first time this happened, exactly one year ago, he knows this girl. He’s been on tour with her, sang with her, written the best songs of his life for, with, and about her, and, most importantly, he’s fallen deeply, desperately in love with her. She is his soulmate, his Julie.

Luke lifts his head when the bedroom door creaks open. A man, who he now knows is his soulmate’s father, is standing in the doorway, clearly checking to see if either of them are awake. Luke uses his free hand to signal to the man to be quiet because Julie is still asleep.

Ray nods, whispering “Tell Julie that I’m in the kitchen and that I have presents for her.”

Just like a year prior and many mornings in between, Julie stirs in Luke’s arms. She stretches, before snuggling back into his chest. He smiles. Even after a year, he can’t get over how adorable she is, like a little kitten. Most mornings are spent in their room in the house they share with the rest of the band, but it had seemed fitting to start their one-year anniversary in the same bed they first met in. 

As Julie’s eyes slowly open, he kisses her lips. “Hi, Julie.” These were his first words to her a year ago and it seems fitting to say them again. “Happy birthday, baby.”

“Mm, mi corazón, good morning...” Julie sighs happily.

“Happy anniversary, too, Jules. Your dad has presents downstairs in the kitchen.” Julie perks up at this, but does not move to get up. Instead, she reaches blindly around on her nightstand, trying to locate her phone. “What are you doing?”

“We need a picture,” Julie whispers. “Like the one we sent the girls last year. We should take one every year.”

Luke grabs his phone and holds it out to take a selfie of them. Opening Instagram, he posts the photo with the caption, “One year with the most incredible person I know. Looking forward to many more years of life, love, and music with you. Happy birthday @julieofthephantoms.”

Scrolling through his feed, Luke looks back at the year they’ve shared. There’s pictures in every venue they played in on their two month tour over the summer. There are pictures of them in coffee shops, Julie’s studio, the band’s basement, both of their bedrooms... The photos, spanning almost a year, show a couple falling deeper in love and celebrating life. 

The two people, accompanied by the best friends anyone can ask for, have made an album that people anticipate will be nominated for (if not the winner of) Album of the Year. They have done more in that one year than many people achieve in their lives. The final show of their summer tour was Madison Square Garden and by the time they’d gotten on stage, it was sold out. 

Julie and the Phantoms have, in a matter of months, become more famous than the members’ previous band, Sunset Curve, managed to be in six years. The guys in the band know that they owe this success to the titular Julie and lead guitarist Luke, soulmates in every sense of the word.

This time, when Luke drives Julie to the studio for band practice, he does not need to borrow her mother’s car, nor does he need the GPS. He knows the way, having driven it most days for several months.

This time, when the band starts playing, Julie is playing with them.

This time, when Julie starts singing, the guys are expecting it and embracing it.

This time, when they sit down for dinner with the Molinas, it isn’t awkward because Ray and Carlos are no longer just Julie’s family. They are Luke’s too.


End file.
